At a closed service for the 6 year-old, media stood across the street as the tiny white casket was carried inside Moore Funeral Home in Hattiesburg.
Mardis was killed last week when officers Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr., allegedly shot at the vehicle being driven by his father - Chris Few - who couldn't attend the funeral. Reports indicate 18 rounds were shot at the vehicle.
Louisiana State Police superintendent, Colonel Mike Edmondson told CNN the biggest question is ''Why?"
"That's a lot of rounds to be fired at a car that certainly had no rounds being fired back. There was no gun in that car. Trying to find a reason why they stopped them, and there was no warrant. That's what we were told originally, and that simply just wasn't true. We need to find out why and put those pieces together. That family, that town. Jeremy deserves that," Edmondson says.
Other reports indicate that the two officers have been charged with excessive force in the past. Edmondson says that information could be useful in the investigation. However now, he says the focus is on the current case.
"I believe if we move forward, those things are going to be important. But, why did this happen at 9:30 on that Tuesday evening? Those things if they happened, and how they happened, and why they happened are certainly important, but it really speaks to the fact of why did they follow that vehicle? Why did they open fire?" says Edmondson.
Booking records show that the officers charged have been transferred from a jail in Marksville, Louisiana, where the shooting happened, to the central Louisiana city of Alexandria. Meanwhile, family and friends said their last goodbyes to Jeremy as he was laid to rest yesterday at a cemetery in Beaumont outside of Hattiesburg.
