One of the monkeys that escaped last week after a truck overturned on a Mississippi roadway was shot and killed by a mother who says she feared for the safety of her children.

Jessica Bond Ferguson, a mother-of-five, said she was alerted by her 16-year-old son who said he thought he had seen a monkey running in the yard outside their home near Heidelberg, Mississippi early Sunday. 

The mom decided to take matters into her own hands. She got out bed, grabbed her firearm and stepped outside where she saw the monkey about 60 feet away.

Bond Ferguson said she and other residents had been warned about that the escaped monkeys carried diseases - so she fired her gun.

'I did what any other mother would do to protect her children,' said Ferguson, whose children range in age from 4 to 16. 

'I shot at it and it just stood there, and I shot again, and he backed up and that's when he fell.'

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office confirmed in a social media post that a homeowner had found one of the monkeys on their property. 

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks took possession of the monkey carcass, the sheriff's office said.

The Rhesus monkeys had been housed at the Tulane University National Biomedical Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, which routinely provides primates to scientific research organizations , according to the university. 

In a statement last week, Tulane said the monkeys do not belong to the university, and they were not being transported by the university. 

A truck carrying the monkeys overturned Tuesday on Interstate 59 north of Heidelberg. Authorities have said most of the 21 monkeys were killed. 

The sheriff's department has said animal experts from Tulane examined the trailer and had determined three monkeys had escaped .