A 16-year-old black teen in Arkansas was fatally shot by a cop while outside a youth treatment center.
Aries Clark was at East Arkansas Youth Services on Tuesday ― an emergency shelter for youths that his parents had sent him to for behavioral issues ― when the shooting occurred.
“I never expected not to see my son again,” the boy’s mother, Vicky Clark, told WMC. “I had saw him that Thursday, and we were trying to figure out how we were going to do therapy to get help for him.”
Arkansas State Police told the publication that an officer with the Marion Police Department shot Clark at 7 p.m., moments after arriving. The boy was taken to a hospital where he later died.
Marion Police Chief Gary Kelley declined to release information related to the shooting, saying only that two officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to KATV.
The Arkansas State Police declined to release more information when asked by HuffPost, citing the ongoing investigation.
Clark’s grandmother, Vickie Burks, said she was in the process of trying to get full custody of her grandson.
“I was expecting him to come home, not to be buried,” Burks told the station. “I was telling him, give yourself a little while and you’ll be home with me.”