[Lt. Derrick Stafford, 32 ]
[ Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23 ]
oped: Two black police officers shoot and severely wound a white father and killed his 6 year old son...no riots, no calling for the death of police officers, no screaming white lives matter ,no Obama on the boob tube calling for a investigation nor the DOJ /FBI announcing the opening of a hate crime investigation...Whats wrong with this picture...oh wait the officers were not white and the victims black! Just thought it fitting to point out the hypocrisy of the Obama administration as well as the 'Black Lives Matter' group!
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Two police officers in Marksville face second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges in connection with a shooting Tuesday night (Nov. 3) that killed a 6-year-old boy and wounded his father, the Louisiana State Police announced Friday night.
Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, and Lt. Derrick Stafford, 32, were booked Friday night, State Police Col. Mike Edmonson said in a news conference from the central-Louisiana town streamed live on WAFB.com.
Four city marshals, including Greenhouse and Stafford, were chasing a vehicle driven by Chris Few when they opened fire on the vehicle, authorities said. Few's 6-year-old son, Jeremy Mardis, was in the front passenger seat at the time, and was fatally struck in the head and chest.
"That little boy was buckled in the front seat of that vehicle," Edmonson told reporters. "That is how he died."
Edmonson said earlier that no weapon was found in the vehicle.
Greenhouse is a full-time marshal in Alexandria and Stafford is an officer with the Marksville Police Department. At the time of the shooting, both were working in their secondary jobs as Marksville city marshals, who work for the city courts and serve warrants, carry firearms and have police powers.
Two other officers were involved in the incident. When Edmonson was asked whether he anticipated any more arrests, he said: "We'll see where it takes us."
It's still unclear what led police to pursue Few and what triggered the shooting. The parish coroner said earlier this week that the officers were serving a warrant on Few when he fled, but Edmonson later said he had no information about a warrant.
The Avoyelles Parish District Attorney's Office is expected to recuse itself from the case, handing it over to the state's Attorney General for prosecution.
Edmonson declined to discuss specifics of the State Police investigation, which he reiterated was both "complex" and ongoing. Detectives are still working to sort out how many shots were fired, and from which guns. Edmonson said authorities were able to review body camera footage from the shooting.
"It is the most disturbing thing I've seen," Edmonson said. "And I will leave it at that."
Few's 57-year-old stepfather, Morris German, has accused the marshals of indiscriminately opening fire on the vehicle. German said Few was heavily sedated, unable to talk and has bullet fragments lodged in his brain and lung. He described Few as a loving father and added the man's son "was his whole life."
German added that the 6-year-old had been diagnosed with autism, describing him as a delightful child who "loved everything, everybody." German said the boy had no siblings and the family had recently moved to Marksville from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
"I know a 6-year-old should not have been shot," German said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.