- Three-month-old La'Mello Parker was shot to death after his father led police on a chase in May.
- More than nine months later, authorities still haven't said whether police fired the fatal shot.
- The Biloxi Police Department, which is leading the investigation, did not respond to requests for comment.
More than nine months after a three-month-old baby was killed following a police shootout in Mississippi, authorities still haven't told La'Mello Parker's family whether it was an officer's bullet that killed the infant.
In an interview with Insider, La'Mello's cousin, Lashunda Parker, said it's unacceptable that the family still doesn't have answers all these months later, especially considering it was a baby who was killed.
"Something gotta be done," Parker said. "We need some kind of answers here."
La'Mello was kidnapped by his 30-year-old father, Eric Derrell Smith, on May 3, 2021, after Smith killed the baby's mother, his ex Christin Parker, and her 26-year-old nephew at a home in Baker, Louisiana, police told local outlets.
Smith then took off with his son, leading officers on a more than 100-mile chase to Mississippi, according to WLOX.
That chase ended when he veered off the highway, and became stuck in the median near Biloxi.
Just seconds after his vehicle came to a stop, bystander video showed police surrounding the vehicle with guns drawn, and then the sound of more than a dozen rounds ringing out.
Smith died at the scene, while baby La'Mello was transported to the hospital, where he died the next day.
Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer told WLOX that Smith died of multiple gunshot wounds while La'Mello died of a single gunshot. He would not say whether the bullet that killed La'Mello had been fired by an officer, but two officers were placed on administrative leave after the shootout, pending the results of an investigation, Biloxi Police officials told Fox 10 News in May.
—Girl With the Most Cake⚜ 🖤💛 🌊🥄 (@bibliofleur) May 6, 2021
The shooting remains under investigation more than nine months later, leaving the Parker family without even the most basic facts about how baby La'Mello died.
There's also confusion over whether Smith may have played a role, since a law enforcement source told Fox 10 after the shootout that Smith had been holding his son as a human shield. The Advocate, citing an anonymous source, reported a similar story — that Smith had been holding his son on his chest while driving. The source also told The Advocate that Smith fired a shot at officers at least an hour before the final shootout, injuring no one. The Advocate said it was unclear who fired first in the final shootout.
—WAFB (@WAFB) May 3, 2021
Lashunda Parker questioned why officers were so quick to fire when they had Smith surrounded.
"He wasn't going anywhere after the car stopped," she said.
While the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation normally investigates officer-involved shootings, the Biloxi Police Department is leading the investigation, according to the Mississippi Free Press. The Free Press reports that this is due to the fact that the Mississippi Highway Patrol was involved in the shooting. The MBI is part of the same agency as the Highway Patrol.
The Biloxi PD did not respond to Insider's multiple requests for comment this week about the current state of the investigation. Police Chief John Miller told the Sun-Herald earlier this month that the FBI Crime Lab is analyzing evidence from the shooting. He explained that normally that evidence would be turned over to the state crime lab, but it couldn't in this situation because the Highway Patrol is under the same umbrella department.
The results of the investigation will be handed over to the Harrison County District Attorney's Office when completed.
La'Mello's death is one of several in Mississippi involving the police that remain under investigation months after they happened.
Insider previously reported on the case of Damien Cameron, a 29-year-old Black man who died while in police custody in Rankin County on July 26. Cameron's mother told Insider that deputies chased Cameron inside their house, tased him twice, and knelt on his back for more than 15 minutes while he complained that he couldn't breathe. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate Cameron's death nearly seven months later.