A grand jury has indicted on murder charges the two deputy marshals arrested last month in connection with a shooting in which a 6-year-old boy, Jeremy Mardis, was killed and his father, Chris Few, wounded in Marksville, Louisiana.

Norris Greenhouse Jr. and Derrick Stafford have both been formally charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, WAFB reports.

In the earliest reports on the incident, it was claimed that Few was backing his car up into the officers, who had to defend themselves. Police later disavowed that account.

A lawyer representing Few claimed that a third officer’s body cam had captured footage of the incident, and showed that Few, with whom one of the marshals may have had a prior, antagonistic relationship, had his hands in the air when the marshals opened fire.

From the Acadania Advocate:

Greenhouse and Stafford were among four officers present at the shooting, which occurred following a brief chase around 9:30 pm on Nov. 3. Only Greenhouse and Stafford fired their weapons, according to State Police.

It remains unclear why the deputy marshals initiated the chase of Few, who was unarmed. Jeremy, an autistic first-grader who was buckled into the passenger seat of the car, was shot multiple times in the head and torso and died at the scene.

The two other officers, Lt. Jason Brouillette and Sgt. Kenneth Parnell, have been cleared of any wrongdoing, the town’s mayor, John Lemoine, said Thursday. Parnell has returned to work with the Marksville Police Department, Lemoine said, while Brouillette is out on sick leave. Stafford, a lieutenant and shift supervisor who’d worked for the department for eight years, has been suspended without pay, Lemoine said.

Mardis’s grandmother, Cathy Mardis, said she wants the footage of her grandson’s shooting to be made public. “There may be some graphic, disturbing images, but I think it needs to be seen,” she told the Advocate.


Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.