Family of injured teen not mad at police over shooting

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The family of a teen injured in an officer-involved shooting told Channel 2 Action News they are not angry that an officer shot their loved one in the arm.

Police said 16-year-old Marquez Redden was shot by a DeKalb police officer as investigators were searching for assailants in a home invasion and robbery nearby.

Geraldine Lloyd, the teen's aunt, told Channel 2's Tony Thomas her nephew wouldn't have been shot if he had been where he was supposed to be.

The family tells told Thomas they are not angry, but are now worried if Redden will ever regain the use of his arm.

"It was close but at least he's still here," said Lloyd.

Lloyd is Redden's legal guardian. She said she is breathing a little easier knowing he will survive the police shooting.

"He didn't get on the school bus, he was skipping school. He knows there is truancy and when he saw the police he thought they were going to lock him up for truancy," Lloyd said about the incident.

So he ran, and police said when officers spotted him running from the area of a burglary Tuesday, they gave chase.

A police dog and his handler found the teen hiding behind a shed. Redden told his family he didn't resist.

"He said he had his hands up, that's what he said and he said the officer shot him," Lloyd told Thomas.

Police only later discovered redden wasn't involved in the crime.

"This was an unintentional discharge on the part of one of our officers," said DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander at news conference Wednesday afternoon. "Officers see him and he's running and they pursued. If he had stopped right there, that would have been the end of it."

Lloyd said she's not angry with police and did have a stern warning for Redden.

"I'm not going to allow myself to get upset," she told Thomas. "I told him he knew better, he should have been on the school bus. If he'd been at school this would have never occurred."

The family said Redden faces several more surgeries, including another one Thursday to repair some of the shattered bones.

WSBTV