Biloxi police finish investigation into baby’s shooting death on I-10. What happens next?

The results of a Biloxi police investigation into the death of 3-month-old La’Mello Parker after Mississippi law enforcement opened fire on a car driven by his father during a police pursuit is now in the hands of the Harrison County District Attorney’s Office.

The District Attorney’s office will present the evidence in the case to grand jury to determine whether any criminal wrongdoing occurred.

“The District Attorney’s Office will review the investigative file which includes reports, statements, videos and forensic testing,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Burrell said. “The complete file will then be presented to an impartial grand jury for their consideration.

The DA’s office, Burrell said, is not commenting on the contents of the investigative file “due to legal and ethical obligations” prior to presenting the information to a grand jury.

Since the shooting, La’Mello’s relatives, Jeremy Parker and Lashunda Parker, along with Black Lives Matter Mississippi, the Biloxi NAACP and other activist groups, including Mississippi Rising Coalition, YO Gulf Coast and ADOS Mississippi have demanded transparency from law enforcement and accountability for what happened to La’Mello.

Biloxi chief responds

Biloxi police handled the investigation, but reached out to the FBI crime lab to analyze evidence collected at the scene of the May 3 shooting on Interstate 10 in Harrison County.

Biloxi police took over the independent investigation because officers from the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department and Gulfport Police Department took part in the shooting.

The Mississippi state crime lab typically analyzes evidence from state investigations.

But, Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said, he got the FBI Crime Lab to analyze shell casings and other evidence at the scene since MHP and the state crime lab are entitles that operate under the umbrella of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. The FBI itself is not involved in the investigation, only the lab.

Did an officer’s bullet kill infant in fatal I-10 chase? Why Biloxi police won’t say

On Thursday, Miller said, the Biloxi Police Department turned over the results of their investigation to the DA’s office about three weeks ago.

However, he said, the DA’s Office first has to review all of the files that are turned over to determine whether or not “they want anything else done” before accepting the investigative material.

“Yesterday,” Miller said, “they (the DA’s Office) accepted the file.”

Miller did not comment further on the findings, saying “it would not be proper to release anything.”

“Our job is to investigate it and put all the facts together and present it to the district attorney,” Miller said Thursday. “I think a lot of people think our job is more than that, but the judicial systems comes into play at that point.”

Police fire over 20 rounds

The shooting happened after authorities got into a low-speed pursuit with the baby’s father, Eric Derrell Smith.

Smith had just left Louisiana after allegedly shooting and killing La’Mello’s mother, Christin Parker, 32, and her nephew, Brandon Parker, 26, at their home near Baton Rouge the same day of the police shootout in Harrison County.

Smith left the house with La’Mello and drove into Mississippi, where law enforcement started pursuing him on I-10 around Gulfport.

Officers used spikes to flatten his tires, and he drove at speeds as slow at 10 mph at times.

Near the Woolmarket exist, Smith drove his car into the interstate median.

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What happened next is not exactly clear, but Biloxi police said Smith was getting out of his car when law enforcement officers opened fire.

Videos of the shooting show that law enforcement offices fired more than 20 rounds into Smith’s car. Smith died at the scene, and La’Mello died a day later of a gunshot wound to the back.

The Sun Herald reported shortly after the shooting that police had gotten the results of a forensic test on the bullet that killed La’Mello. But Biloxi police would not discuss the findings at the time.