A one-year-old boy has been shot and killed by a Mississippi police officer who opened fire on a car carrying the infant and two women fleeing from a Walmart after an alleged shoplifting incident, sparking outrage in the local community and calls for accountability against the department.
Kohen Kartier Wiley died after officers from the Senatobia Police Department discharged a weapon at the vehicle in which he was travelling with his mother and aunt. A statement from the department acknowledged that officers knew a child was present in the car before they fired. “Upon arrival, officers encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle,” the statement read. “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon, and the vehicle fled the scene. The subjects arrived at a local hospital, where one juvenile child in the vehicle was pronounced deceased, and another subject had critical injuries. No law enforcement officers received any serious physical injury.”
Witnesses at the scene described a very different picture from the one painted in the official statement. One said he saw officers waiting in the car park as the two women left Walmart, one carrying a box of diapers and the other holding baby Kohen. Another witness told local media: “I saw the officers take off running, not in the car, I’m talking about on foot, and these are the Sheriffs and the police. They’re running through the parking lot, and I see the car take off, so in my head, I’m like, I know they’re not chasing the car, they don’t think they’re going to catch the car. Then I hear gunshots, and I’m like, I know they’re not shooting at a car that’s leaving in a public place, this is Walmart.”
Baby Kohen’s great-grandmother, Carolyn Stokes, expressed grief and fury at the department. “Senatobia Police Department get away with too much stuff,” she told WREG. “I hear about it all the time, it’s in the news all the time, y’all probably down here all the time, recording this stuff, but it’s just too much.”
The killing has intensified already existing concerns about policing in Senatobia. Local media reported last year that a woman was tasered and tackled by officers after being seen parking in a disabled space, despite her explanation that she was simply dropping off her grandmother.
The Senatobia Police Department said it was “committed to full transparency,” adding: “As the investigation progresses and facts are verified, we will share as much information as possible.” No officer has been suspended or charged in connection with Kohen’s death.
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