- La'Mello Parker died during a police shootout involving his father in May.
- Biloxi PD completed their investigation into the baby's death on Friday. It's now with the DA's office.
- The investigation was completed two days after Insider brought national attention to the case.
The investigation into the death of a 3-month-old baby after a police shootout in Mississippi has wrapped – following a nearly year-long investigation – but the baby's family still haven't been told who fired the fatal shot.
Biloxi Police officials confirmed to WXXV on Friday that the investigation into La'Mello Parker's death had been completed and handed over to the Harrison County District Attorney's Office, two days after Insider brought national attention to the case.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Burrell told WLOX that the investigation will be presented to a grand jury after his office has had a chance to review the file. It will then be up to a grand jury to decide whether charges are warranted. It's unclear when that might happen.
"Due to legal and ethical obligations, the District Attorney's Office cannot comment on the content of the file or when the file will be presented to the grand jury," Burrell told WLOX.
Insider reached out to Burrell for an update on Monday, but did not immediately receive a response.
Insider also reached out to the Biloxi Police Department for comment on what prompted the conclusion of the investigation, but did not receive a response. The department spent more than nine months investigating the shooting.
La'Mello's cousin, Lashunda Parker, told Insider on Monday that officials never reached out to tell her that the investigation had wrapped. Instead, she learned about the development from an activist with Black Lives Matter Mississippi.
Parker said she was displeased with the fact that authorities haven't kept the family in the loop as the investigation progressed, and how they still haven't told the family whether it was an officer's bullet that killed La'Mello. She said she wants the results of the investigation — especially the identity of who killed La'Mello — released to the public as soon as possible.
La'Mello died in May 2021, after his father led police on a chase from Louisiana to Mississippi. Eric Derrell Smith kidnapped his son after murdering the boy's mother and her nephew at a home in Baker, Louisiana, police told local outlets.
Bystander video showed the chase coming to an end near Biloxi, Mississippi, when Smith ran over a spike strip and drove into a highway median.
Within seconds of coming to a stop, video showed police surrounding Smith's car with guns drawn, and the sound of more than a dozen rounds of shots ringing out.
Smith died at the scene while baby La'Mello died the following day at the hospital.
Harrison County Coroner Brian Switzer told WLOX at the time that Smith died of multiple gunshot wounds and La'Mello died of a single gunshot wound. Police have never confirmed whether it was an officer that fired the shot that killed La'Mello, but news reports in the wake of the tragedy showed authorities trying to raise the possibility that it was the father's fault.
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.