FBI investigating May police shooting death of Louisiana infant. Here’s what we know

Margaret Baker
·2 min read
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The FBI Crime Lab is analyzing evidence from the May 3 shooting death of an infant boy from Louisiana killed when police opened fire on a car driven by the baby’s father.

“We needed an independent source to analyze the evidence and then it will be turned over to us,” Biloxi Police Chief John Miller said.

The Biloxi Police Department is handling 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 state crime lab typically analyzes evidence from state investigations,

But, Miller said, he got the FBI Crime Lab involved since MHP and the state crime lab are entities that operate under the umbrella of Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Among the evidence under review are the shell casings collected at the scene, the police chief said.

La’Mello Parker was three months old when he was shot and killed following a police pursuit on Interstate 10 on May 3, 2021.
La’Mello Parker was three months old when he was shot and killed following a police pursuit on Interstate 10 on May 3, 2021.

Three-month-old La’Mello Parker died of a single gunshot wound a day after he was shot while he was in a car with his father, double murder suspect, Eric Derrell Smith. Smith died at the scene.

Smith is suspected of killing his girlfriend and the baby’s mother, Chistin Parker, and her nephew, Brandon Parker, at their home near Baton Rouge before law enforcement offices spotted his car on the interstate in Mississippi.

After officers used spike strips to flatten the tires on Smith’s car, he kept driving at a speeds as low as 10 mph. When Smith’s car got stuck in the interstate median, officers fired a barrage of bullets at the car.

A video of the shooting from motorists shows that law enforcement officers fired over 20 rounds.

After La’Mello died, authorities performed a forensics test on the bullet that killed the baby, but would not say whether the bullet came from an officer’s gun, citing the ongoing investigation.

Since La’Mello’s death, Black Lives Matter Mississippi, the Biloxi NAACP and other activist groups accompanied by some of La’Mello’s relatives have held protests and other gatherings to demand accountability and transparency from law enforcement for what happened to La’Mello.