The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is looking into a police shooting that killed a 1-year-old boy in north Mississippi.
Officers from the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff’s Department responded to a reported shoplifting Sunday afternoon at a Walmart on U.S. 51 and saw a car driving away, according to a statement from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Officers tried to stop the car, but DPS said the driver drove in the officers’ direction and almost hit one, leading an officer to fire at the car.
After the shooting, the subjects took themselves to a local hospital, where the child died and another person was being treated for critical injuries, according to DPS and local reporting.
Family members identified the child as Kohen Wiley. They are questioning how the police response led to the toddler’s death and are looking for accountability. They dispute that the adults – the child’s mother and aunt – shoplifted diapers from the Walmart.
“All we know is that a car was shot up and a 1-year-old baby was killed,” Carolyn Stokes, the boy’s great-grandmother, told Memphis TV station WMC. “And then nobody tells us anything like we’re not anybody.”
She and other family members could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.
In a statement after the shooting, Senatobia police said it is committed to full transparency.
“As the investigation progresses and facts are verified, we will share as much information as possible,” the department wrote in the statement on Facebook.
As of Monday, officials have not identified the adult driver of the car and passenger.
Police Chief Harold Vanderford and Tate County Sheriff Luke Shepherd were not immediately available for comment about whether anyone has been charged in the shooting or if any law enforcement officers have been placed on leave during the investigation.
In a Monday statement, Walmart said it is saddened by the shooting death outside the Senatobia store and said the safety of staff and customers is a top priority. The company is also working with law enforcement during the investigation.
Another example of how Senatobia police officers have interacted with children occurred in August 2023, when officers placed a 10-year-old boy in a police car and took him to the station for urinating behind his mother’s car in the parking lot of a lawyer’s office she was visiting.
At the time, then-Police Chief Richard Chandler told news outlets that the child was not handcuffed, but the boy’s mother said he was put into a jail cell.
Chandler said the officers violated training about how to handle children. He said one officer involved in the boy’s arrest was no longer employed with the department and the others would be disciplined.
Months later, a youth court judge sentenced the boy to three months’ probation and assigned him to write a two-page book report about Kobe Bryant, the late basketball star. The child’s mother refused to sign the probation agreement after reading the full agreement reached by the child’s attorney and a special prosecutor.
As of mid-June, at least 12 officer-involved shootings have occurred across Mississippi this year, according to news releases from DPS and local media. Children were not injured or killed in any of the earlier shootings this year.
Missisisppi law enforcement officers have fatally shot at least four teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 since 2022, according to records maintained by Mississippi Today. In the deaths, officers reported they believed the teens were involved in criminal activity.
Law enforcement officers have also injured children in shootings, including then 11-year-old Aderrien Murry, who in May 2023 was hit in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver.
An Indianola police officer responded to his home when the boy helped his mother call for help about a former partner who was acting irate. A Sunflower County grand jury later declined to indict the officer for criminal charges.
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