HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Family and friends of a 6-year-old boy killed when marshals in a Louisiana town opened fire on a vehicle were gathering for the boy’s funeral service Monday afternoon.
Jeremy Mardis was killed and his father, Chris Few, wounded when marshals in the town of Marksville opened fire on their vehicle last week.
Mardis was to be buried Monday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He had recently moved from Hattiesburg to Louisiana.
Louisiana state police announced late Friday that they had arrested two of the marshals involved in the shooting and are still investigating the incident, which raised questions almost from the beginning.
Initial reports suggested the marshals were serving a warrant on Few when the shooting happened. But Louisiana’s head of state police, Col. Mike Edmonson, has said there was no evidence a warrant was issued. He added that no gun was found on the scene.
Derrick Stafford, 32, of Mansura, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, of Marksville, each face charges of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder. They were being held in a jail in central Louisiana.
State police said Stafford is a full-time lieutenant with the Marksville Police Department; Greenhouse is a full-time city marshal. Both were working part-time as deputy marshals in Marksville’s Ward 2 when Tuesday’s shooting occurred, state police said.
Investigators have been combing through forensics evidence, 911 calls and body camera footage. They have not released the footage or the calls, but Edmonson described the body camera footage at a news conference Friday as “the most disturbing thing I’ve seen.” He added that the boy had died while still buckled into his seat in the car.
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