An 11-year-old boy is recovering after being shot in the chest by police after he called 911 for help when his mom's ex-partner turned up at their home in the middle of the night.
Aderrien Murry was admitted to hospital but has since been released after being shot by police in Mississippi.
His mother, Nakala Murry, told ABC she was asleep when at about 4am on Saturday she woke up to a knock on her window.
She saw her daughter's father, who was apparently furious.
"I noticed he was kind of irate. And from dealing with him in the past, I know the irate version of him, what it could lead to," she said.
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She handed her phone to her 11-year-old son, Aderrien, and told him to call his grandmother.
Instead, the 4ft 10 inch tall boy dialed 911 and then his grandmother.
She also called for police assistance.
Two officers responded to the distress call in Indianola, which is about 100 miles northwest of Jackson.
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Murry said officers yelled at her to open the front door with her ex-partner still standing there.
"My child's father was still there. [My son] was like: 'Don't open the door.' I was telling him that I'm going to open the door," she recalled.
"He ran toward the back, [and police] started kicking on the door with their foot, like they were trying to break it down."
But when she opened the door, the officer's gun was drawn.
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"He was telling me to come out. I went out, I got out of the way. I walked out toward the end of my driveway where my mom was. And I heard a shot and I saw my son run out toward where we were."
She said her 11-year-old son fell bleeding to the ground.
As she put pressure on the wound, her son whispered to her.
She recalled: "He kept asking, ‘Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?’”
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The mom has since lashed out at trigger-happy police, claiming there is no way her small son could be confused for a full-grown adult male.
The family's lawyer Carlos Moore is now calling for 'a full and transparent investigation' of the shooting, as per CNN .
The attorney added the boy is traumatized and will require counseling.
"This 11-year-old child was about 4 feet 10 it looks like and so he could not have been confused," Moore said.
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"So we don’t know what happened, but we do know this officer’s actions were reckless, very reckless, and could have led to the loss of life."
Moore said the boy 'did everything right' and was described as 'a good student' who obeyed his mother’s request to call for help.
Rachel Lang