During a shooting, 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis was tragically killed by marshals’ firearms. “He was in the line of fire,” Avoyelles Parish Coroner Dr. L. J. Mayeux said.
With Mardis in the passenger seat, Chris Few attempted to flee from the Marshals. Few hit a dead end and preceded the attempted escape by backing his car into the marshals’ vehicle. This was when the shooting began. “More likely than not they were shooting into the driver side, and he was on the passenger side,” Mayeux stated.
The six-year-old boy died from multiple gunshots to his head and chest. Few was admitted to a hospital and was reported as listed in serious condition yesterday morning, November 4.
The city marshals are affiliated with the police department. The marshals work for the city courts and serve warrants. They are allowed to carry firearms, drive government vehicles and basically have police powers. The state police are investigating the case.
Mardis was living with his father and grandmother in Marksville, where he recently started school. “We are definitely shaken up,” the Avoyelles superintendent of schools, Blaine Dauzat, said. “It’s been a tough day at work for all of us.”
Grief counselors were sent to the Lafargue Elementary School in Eiffe, where Mardis went, to help the students and teachers tackle the situation.
Image via Flickr/Owen Young, resized
