Jeremy Mardis
Jeremy Mardis, a 6-year-old boy with autism in Louisiana, became the youngest victim of a police shooting this year.
Mardis was shot five times by city marshals when they opened fire on the vehicle his father, Chris Few, was driving. Few was critically injured in the shooting, police said.
The child suffered fatal shots to the head and chest and died on the scene, Dr. L.J. Mayeux, coroner of Avoyelles Parish, told Fox10tv. Few is in critical condition, officials said.
The incident is being investigated by Louisiana State Police which said that city marshals from Ward 2 fired at the vehicle at "the conclusion of a pursuit."
Chris Few
Few appeared to be unarmed when the officers discharged their weapons. There was no gun found in Few's car or around it, Louisiana State Police spokesperson, Scott Moreau, told BuzzFeed News Friday.
The coroner told reporters that the marshals were chasing Few after he fled when they tried to serve him with arrest warrants. However, Moreau said that the Louisiana State Police has not been able to verify if there were any outstanding arrest warrants because "the officers [involved in the shooting] have refused to talk to us." He said the state police has yet to interview them.
City marshals work for the city's courts and have duties such as serving warrants. They also carry firearms, Avoyelles Today reported.
According to the coroner's version of the incident, the marshals opened fire at Few's vehicle when he reached a dead end during the chase and started backing into the marshal's vehicle several times while refusing to come out his car.
Moreau told BuzzFeed News that there were "rumors" that Few rammed into the marshal's vehicle and tried to run them over. "But I can't confirm this through our investigators," he said. Moreau could not say if the marshals were aware that a child was in the car, but added that "I would think they wouldn't have shot at it," if they knew.
"Jeremy was a special gift from God," Samantha Few, his grandmother, told Fox10tv. "He was always smiling, always happy," she said.
Jeremy was diagnosed with autism when he was two, according to Samantha Few. "He loved everyone he met and they loved him...He didn't deserve what happened. He wouldn't hurt a fly."
Authorities have obtained a video of the incident but did not confirm whether it was obtained from body cam or dash cam footage, Moreau said.
Four of the city marshal officers involved in the incident were also police officers with the Marksville Police Department, according to Moreau. He could not comment on whether any action has been taken against them.
The city marshal's office and the Marksville Police Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1Hx4fXk
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