An 11-year-old boy shot by a Mississippi police officer after he called 911 earlier this month sang quietly to himself and cried out that he did not want to die in the moments after he was struck by the gunfire.
Aderrien Murry was shot in the chest by an officer, identified as Sgt. Greg Capers, who responded to his home in Indianola early the morning of May 20. The boy called authorities around 4 a.m., after his mother’s ex-boyfriend unexpectedly showed up at their front door.
During an interview on Good Morning America Tuesday, Aderrien said he had his hands up over his head when the responding officers arrived, but they still shot him anyway. He was left with a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs, injuries that kept him in the hospital for five days.
“It felt like a Taser, like a big punch to the chest,” he said, recalling then how he ran toward his mother, who was outside at the time. “I was bleeding — bleeding from my mouth. Then I would just remember singing a song.”
Aderrien told GMA he sang the words, “No weapon formed against me — prosper shall,” which is a reference to a Bible verse, Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.”
His mother, Nakala Murry, previously recalled hearing a gunshot and then watching her son fall to the ground as he attempted to reach her.
“He fell, bleeding,” she said. “I put pressure on it to stop, help stop the bleeding.”
While lying on the ground, Murry said her son told her, “I don’t wanna die.”
According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the incident, officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the home and a minor was significantly hurt from an “officer-involved shooting.”
The results of the results of the probe will be shared with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
Capers was suspended in connection with the case on Monday, according to Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone.