By Ashton Pittman - Mississippi Free Press
Nakala Murry has filed a criminal affidavit against the Indianola Police officer who shot her 11-year-old son, Aderrien Murry, in the chest last month while responding to a call the child made to report a domestic disturbance. He is recovering after being hospitalized.
Her affidavit, which she filed in the Sunflower County District Court office on Monday, accuses Greg Capers, 61, of causing “bodily harm to my minor son, Aderrien Murry, by recklessly shooting him in the chest with a gun.”
The boy called 911 in the early morning hours of May 20 at his mother’s request when her ex-boyfriend showed up at their home, but the family says that when Aderrien complied with the officer’s command for everyone to exit the house with their hands up, Capers fired on him.
The family’s attorney Carlos Moore told the Mississippi Free Press that the affidavit means “the county prosecutor now has to act.”
“According to the statute, the officer will be entitled to a probable cause hearing. … Any time an affidavit is filed against an officer, a probable cause hearing shall be held before a circuit court judge and people have to testify about what happened.”
State law says that if a judge decides “adequate probable cause exists,” she or he would then issue a warrant for the officer’s arrest.
Capers has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting, and the Indianola Police Department has repeatedly declined requests for comment. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigations is investigating the case, but Moore told the Mississippi Free Press that Nakala Murry was not content to wait on a decision from authorities who have “been very quiet” since the shooting.
“This mother takes justice for her son very seriously and she’s not going to leave it to anyone else. … She has a right to file a criminal affidavit for what she witnessed. Her son was shot,” the lawyer said on Monday.
Last week, Aderrien Murry told CNN about the trauma he has experienced since the shooting.
“Sometimes, I can see myself laying inside the coffin. Them are my thoughts at night—the only ones,” the boy said.
The family recently filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against the City of Indianola, Indianola Police Chief Ronald Sampson and Greg Capers.
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