Carlos Moore, attorney for 11-year-old Aderrien Murry, says he hopes his client will be a “catalyst for police reform.”
Lawyers for the family of an 11-year-old boy shot by the police filed a $5 million civil lawsuit Tuesday in a United States court alleging negligence, use of excessive force and violation of the constitutional rights of the child.
“My client, Aderrien Murry, did everything right and nothing wrong,” attorney Carlos Moore said of the 11-year-old victim, who spent five days in hospital recovering from a punctured lung, ruptured liver and broken ribs.
“And yet he still got shot point blank, mid range, in the chest by Greg Capers.”
The lawsuit names Capers, a police sergeant, along with the City of Indianola, Mississippi, and Police Chief Ronald Sampson as respondents. The case is the latest in the US to spark national headlines over issues of police overrun and violence against unarmed black people.
“It’s the most egregious case of excessive force I’ve seen or heard in my 21-year law practice,” Moore said at Tuesday’s news conference.
Of his 11-year-old client, Moore said: “I believe he will be the catalyst for police reform in this country. There must be something to give.”
In the early morning hours of May 20, Murry called 911 at his mother’s request after her ex-boyfriend arrived at their home “furious,” Moore said.
But when the police arrived, Aderrien’s mother, Nakala Murry, explained that her ex-boyfriend had already left. She also said he didn’t have a gun on him.
Still, the police called on everyone in the house to raise their hands. At that point, Aderrien walked into the living room and Capers shot him in the chest, according to Moore.
“I came out with this,” Aderrien said, holding his hands up, during a Tuesday interview with Good Morning America. “It feels like a taser, like a big blow to the chest. That’s what it feels like to be shot.”
Aderrien was eventually transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the state capital of Jackson, 95 miles south of Indianola, where he was put on a ventilator.
Through tears, Nakala Murry also told Good Morning America, “I was trying to get help. I just wanted help.” She has called for the police officer involved to be fired.
Moore, the lawyer, has stressed that police allegedly tried to kick in the door of the family home before Nakala could open it on the night of 911.
“He had his guns on fire as soon as she opened the door. Luckily she wasn’t shot,” Moore said of Capers on Tuesday. He added: “We give Greg Capers the benefit of the doubt on that [the shooting] was not intentional. But it was absolutely rude, grossly reckless.
Indianola attorney Kimberly Merchant told The Enterprise-Tocsin, a local newspaper, on Thursday that Capers is no longer on active duty, but she declined to comment further: “It’s a personnel issue.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation also announced it is investigating the incident.
Both Capers and Murry are black. But police brutality tends to disproportionately affect black people in the US, with a 2021 report in the medical journal The Lancet estimating that they are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than non-Hispanic white people.
“Greg Capers is 61 years old. He was team leader. He’s a sergeant,” Moore said Tuesday. “How in God’s green earth could he have shot this young man? His family has many questions and they have not received any answers.”