A 1-year-old boy was fatally shot by a Mississippi cop who fired at a car the tot’s mother and aunt were fleeing in through a Walmart parking lot after allegedly stealing diapers.
Kohen Wiley, 1, was killed and another woman in their car was critically injured when a cop opened fire at their vehicle in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, Mississippi.
Kohen’s family told WREG that his mother was holding him in the front passenger seat while his aunt drove. It’s not clear if Kohen’s mother or aunt was the woman critically injured.
Officers from the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff’s Department were responding to a reported shoplifting at the Walmart when they spotted the suspects’ car driving away, according to a statement from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety obtained by Mississippi Today.
The DPS claimed that the driver sped in the officers’ direction and almost hit one cop while they were trying to stop the car. It was at that moment that an officer fired at the car, according to the statement.
Video footage obtained by WREG showed at least one bullet hole in the front windshield of the car. The passenger-side window was also severely damaged.
The family drove themselves to a nearby hospital, where little Kohen died.
The tot’s surviving family is demanding answers for how a shoplifting response could turn so violent. They also disputed speculations that Kohen’s mother and aunt were stealing diapers from the megastore.
“We don’t really know anything, why it happened or whatever. All we know is that car was shot up and a one-year-old baby was killed,” Carolyn Stokes, Kohen’s great-grandmother, told WREG.
“I’m just at a loss for words, to be honest. Somebody needs to held accountable for it,” Carlos Haynes, Kohen’s grandfather, added.
A woman who witnessed the shooting told the outlet that she heard gunshots echo across the parking lot as cops chased the car, but assumed officers hadn’t opened fire in broad daylight, since “this is Walmart.”
A separate witness told the outlet that he saw law enforcement waiting in the parking lot before Kohen’s mother and aunt exited the store, one holding a box of diapers while the other cradled the toddler.
The Senatobia Police Department turns its investigation over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Tate County Sheriff Luke Shepherd told Mississippi Today that the department is also doing an independent investigation to determine if any of the deputies involved in the shooting will be placed on leave.