A Mississippi family is calling for the immediate release of video footage after their 1-year-old son was fatally shot by police opening fire on a moving vehicle. The family wants the public to see whether officers were truly at risk of being struck when they discharged their weapons.
The infant, Kohen Wiley, was riding in a car with his mother and another woman in a Senatobia Walmart parking lot on June 14 when officers arrived to investigate a shoplifting report. A dispute has emerged over the moments leading up to the gunfire. The family states the vehicle was driving away from the police, while authorities contend it was moving directly toward them.
“I watched my baby take his first breath, and I watched my baby take his last breath,” Vellesiya Wiley, the boy’s mother, said during a news conference on Monday.
The shooting has sparked widespread outrage in the small city of Senatobia. Some local residents state that the incident is the latest in a series of troubling encounters between local police and Black residents. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) has taken over the inquiry into the killing.
Standing alongside Kohen’s parents and grandparents at a local church, civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters Monday that the fastest way to resolve the conflicting accounts is to publicly release all body camera, dash camera, and Walmart security footage.
“If that is the truth, then show us that,” Crump said. “The longer you delay releasing the video, the more distrustful we become.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on what specific videos investigators currently possess or whether they plan to release them to the public. However, agency spokesperson Bailey Martin issued an emailed statement on Monday regarding the status of the probe.
“This case has been made a top priority,” Martin said, “and we currently have multiple agents working tirelessly to ensure every aspect of the investigation is thoroughly examined.”
Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford did not return a phone message seeking comment on Monday.
State investigators provided an initial account of the shooting last week. According to the MBI statement, when Senatobia police officers arrived at the Walmart, they observed two women and a child getting into a car and attempting to drive away.
“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 bureau’s statement said.
Kohen’s mother has stated that the initial shoplifting call involved a box of diapers her friend was carrying, which she believes her friend had already paid for. State investigators have declined to comment on those specific details.
During Monday’s press conference, Crump questioned the tactical decisions made by the officers on the scene, asking why police did not simply let the car leave and record the license plate number instead of opening fire.
“They were called over a box of diapers and a family now has to bury their baby,” Crump said. “You cannot put those two things next to each other and call it reasonable policing.”
Crump also announced that the family will have an independent autopsy performed on the child. He noted that while there is no dispute that the police shot the boy, information regarding the angles at which the bullets struck the child could provide critical clues.
The entry points could show whether the officer fired from directly in front of the vehicle or from the side, which would indicate whether the officer was in immediate danger of being struck.
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