Shooting of Jeremy Mardis

Shooting of Jeremy Mardis

Time	≈ 9:30 p.m.
Date	November 3, 2015 (2015-11-03)
Location	Marksville, Louisiana, in Avoyelles Parish, U.S.
Coordinates
Deaths	Jeremy David Mardis
Non-fatal injuries	Chris Few
Burial	Beaumont Cemetery, Beaumont, Mississippi
Suspect(s)	Derrick Stafford Norris Greenhouse Jr.
Charges	Second-degree murder Attempted second-degree murder
Publication bans	Gag order by judge

On November 3, 2015, Jeremy Mardis (/ˈmɑːrdis/), a six-year-old boy, was killed in Marksville, Louisiana, in a shooting that also wounded his father Chris Few. Two Marksville law enforcement officers, Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr., were arrested on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder as a result of the incident. The use of a body-worn video camera was cited as being contributory to the speed of the arrests.

Background

Marksville is a small city with a population of 5,702 at the 2010 census, characterized by familiar relationships and interactions between locals. The city experienced a series of running conflicts between Mayor John Lemoine and several city officials over budgets. The conflicts reportedly started soon after Lemoine took office in 2009, when he called for several audits of the city court and recommended that the city council lower the budget, including the salary of Marksville Marshal Floyd Voinche. Citizens have described the politics as "particularly intense and personal". Lemoine was also reportedly in conflict with the Marksville Police Department, which had three different chiefs during Lemoine's five years in office.

About three months prior to the shooting incident, Voinche's office hired several local police officers to work part-time in street patrols and even purchased two used Ford Crown Victoria police vehicles for them to use. The street patrols mostly involved making traffic stops and issuing citations. Before that, the office's jurisdiction had been limited to serving court papers. According to Lemoine, speaking after the shooting occurred, Voinche did not consult with the city about this expansion of his operations, including the hiring of full-time police officers, and Lemoine had written at least one letter to the office of Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, questioning the legal authority of Voinche's actions. However, because state statute gives marshals the authority to enforce the law within their respective jurisdictions, street patrols and issuing tickets were considered to be encompassed in this authority.

Shooting incident

Location of Mardis's shooting

Shooting of Jeremy Mardis (Louisiana)

As of November 8, Stafford and Greenhouse reportedly had not given a reason for attempting to pull Christopher Few's car over on the night of the shooting. There was no warrant out for Few's arrest, though some sources reported the existence of such a warrant early in the investigation.

Megan Dixon, Few's fiancée, who had been traveling in a separate vehicle, witnessed a moment near the beginning of the chase when the cars driven by Few and the police officers passed hers, but she did not see what prompted the officers to pursue Few. Later, she believed that the pursuit was prompted by Few passing a red light or an altercation she had with Few at an intersection. After leaving a bar in separate cars, due to an argument, Few passed her while being chased. One police vehicle reportedly received damage, caused by Few reversing into it.

At some point during the attempt to make the traffic stop, Greenhouse and Stafford called for backup, and two other officers responded. One of the responding officers used his body camera to record the confrontation. The chase ended on a dead-end street by the entrance to the Marksville State Historic Site at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Taensas Street. For unclear reasons, Greenhouse and Stafford allegedly fired 18 rounds of ammunition into Few's vehicle at approximately 9:30 p.m. Few was struck twice, in the head and chest, despite reportedly having his hands in the air, according to police body-camera footage. Mardis was hit by five bullets, also struck in the head and chest, and is believed to have died instantly, according to the coroner for Avoyelles Parish.

Police officers involved

Three of the four involved officers worked both as police officers and as marshals. While in most of Louisiana marshals are authorized only to serve legal documents such as arrest warrants, in Marksville, deputy marshals were empowered to make discretionary arrests, "preserve the peace", and issue traffic tickets earlier in 2015.

Officers who allegedly fired the shots

Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, and Derrick Stafford, 32, are officers with the Marksville police department. Greenhouse is a reserve officer for nearby Alexandria who once held a full-time position, and had been on the force for one year. Stafford, a police lieutenant, was on the force for eight years. On the night of the shooting, Greenhouse and Stafford were working side jobs for the city marshal's office. They were two of several Marksville officers hired by the marshal's office about three months prior to the shooting.

Charles Riddle, the district attorney for Avoyelles Parish, has recused himself from the case because one of Greenhouse's parents is an assistant district attorney there. As a result, Greenhouse and Stafford are being prosecuted by the office of the attorney general of Louisiana.

Greenhouse and Stafford surrendered themselves on the evening of November 6, and they were charged with second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder. They are being held on US$1 million bail, and will be held in home confinement if bail is posted. The two were transferred from a jail in Avoyelles Parish to Rapides Parish Detention Center #3 on November 9 because the latter facility's is "better equipped to isolate [Greenhouse and Stafford] from the general population". It is standard procedure to separate law-enforcement officers from non-law-enforcement inmates when they are incarcerated.

Responding officers

Lieutenant Jason Brouillette, a 13-year veteran of the Marksville police department, and Sergeant Kenneth Purnell, a five-year veteran, responded to the backup call made by Greenhouse and Stafford. Purnell was wearing a body camera, which recorded at least part of the incident.

Brouillette and Purnell were placed on administrative leave following the incident. Investigators do not believe either of them fired their weapons.

Victims

Christopher Few

Christopher Few moved from Mississippi to the Marksville area in April 2014 to work as an apprentice riverboat captain and to be closer to his relatives. He was listed in critical condition on November 3, and a family spokesperson said that bullet fragments remained in Few's brain and lung. His condition improved to serious by the following morning. As of November 9, Few was hospitalized in Alexandria, Louisiana, where his condition had been upgraded to fair. He was released from the hospital on November 13. Few and Mardis shared a home with Few's mother prior to the shooting. Body-cam footage reportedly shows Few had his hands up when he was shot.

Jeremy Mardis

Jeremy David Mardis (c. 2009 – November 3, 2015) was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. At the time of the shooting, he was in the first grade and attended Lafargue Elementary School in Effie, Louisiana, having moved away from Mississippi with his father the year before. Mardis's mother Katie Mardis, and his sister, still live in Mississippi. Mardis's father's fiancée Dixon described Mardis as an affectionate and intelligent child, and said that Mardis did speak, unlike some autistic children. Mardis and Few shared a home with Few's mother prior to the shooting. Mardis was in the front seat of Few's vehicle and wearing a seatbelt when they were shot.

Aftermath

Investigation

Colonel Mike Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police, who began an investigation into the shooting, has stated that the body-camera video recorded by one of the responding officers was essential to the arrests being made. Other evidence which led to the decision to charge the officers included interviews with the cooperating officers, 9-1-1 recordings, and unspecified forensic evidence.

Prior to the imposition of a gag order in the case, investigators stated that there was no warrant for Few's arrest prior to or after the shooting. State police also confirmed that there was no evidence of a firearm inside Few's vehicle.

As of November 7, ballistics tests on all four officers' firearms were scheduled, but had not yet been conducted.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Office of the United States Attorney, are participating in the investigation.

Gag order

Judge William Bennett, who also presided over the bail hearing, issued a gag order on November 9. The order forbade involved parties, including police, victims, and witnesses, from discussing the case with the press. Media outlets had requested the Louisiana State Police to release public records with information about the case, but these requests were denied as a result of the judge's order.

Significance of body-camera footage

Legal analysts cited by The Advocate newspaper of Baton Rouge, Louisiana attributed the swiftness of the arrests in this case to the availability of body-camera footage showing the shooting. State police head Edmonson also attributed the swift arrests to the footage. While the video was not played during Greenhouse's and Stafford's bail hearing, a description of the video's contents was part of the evidence heard.

Funeral service

A funeral for Mardis was held on November 9 at Moore Funeral Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where his mother and sister live. He was to be buried in Beaumont Cemetery. Few, hospitalized and recovering from his injuries at the time, was unable to attend.

Bond posting

Bond was set at US$1 million for both officers. On November 24, Greenhouse's family posted bond and he was released just after 5:00 p.m.