Exposing children to domestic violence commonly leads to abuse and neglect charges and can result in loss of custody, experts say. But in the case of Nakala Murry, an Indianola mother facing neglect allegations, it was a police officer responding to her call for help, not her ex-partner who was causing trouble, that left her then-11-year-old son with a gunshot wound to the chest, Mississippi Today reports. Jennifer Morgan, manager of the family defense program at the Office of the State Public Defender, said it’s often called “failure to protect.” The program represents parents in child welfare proceedings, including some who are domestic violence survivors facing custody loss because their children were in the home when the violence happened. Neglect allegations against Murry are based on the presence of her children during a domestic violence call the early morning of May 20, 2023 and the gunshot wound to her son, Aderrien.
The boy was not hurt because of domestic violence between his mother and her former partner, as the neglect petition claims, but by Sgt. Greg Capers, who responded to the domestic disturbance call, said Carlos Moore, the family’s attorney. Murry is suing Capers, the city and police department over the shooting and has continued to pursue misdemeanor charges against Capers after a grand jury declined to indict him. An adjudication hearing on the abuse and neglect charges is scheduled for Wednesday to determine whether Aderrien, his sister and cousin have been neglected and need to be removed from Nakala Murry’s custody. Tonya Rogillio, who works with Morgan as the family defense interdisciplinary team coordinator, said the message sent to parents is that if they call the police, they could lose their children. “[Murry] didn’t do anything wrong and her kid got shot by a police officer, and now she’s being punished for doing what she had to do,” she said.