Senatobia MS Shooting: Community Gathers Outside City Hall After 1-Year-Old Shot and Killed by Police

The Incident at the Senatobia Walmart

According to preliminary public reports from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS), the tragic sequence of events began on Sunday, June 14, at approximately 2:00 p.m. Officers from the Senatobia Police Department responded to a shoplifting complaint at the Walmart located on U.S. Highway 51. According to witnesses who later spoke to WREG News Channel 3, the alleged stolen merchandise reportedly consisted of a box of diapers.

Law enforcement officials stated that upon their arrival at the scene, responding officers encountered two adult women and a juvenile quickly fleeing the store and entering a silver sedan. Authorities allege that as officers attempted to physically stop the vehicle, the driver drove in the direction of the police, nearly striking one of the officers. In response to this perceived threat, an unidentified officer discharged a squad-issued firearm into the windshield of the fleeing vehicle.

The car managed to flee the immediate scene and drove directly to a local hospital. It was there that 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was reportedly being held by his mother in the passenger seat during the encounter, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound. The driver of the vehicle, identified by the family as the child’s aunt, suffered critical gunshot injuries and remains hospitalized. Kohen’s mother was physically unharmed by the gunfire.

Community Outrage and City Hall Protests

The sudden and violent death of baby Kohen has sparked intense backlash across the region. By Tuesday evening, a large crowd of protestors and community advocates converged on the steps of Senatobia City Hall. The demonstrators voiced their anger through megaphones and signs, chanting for justice and demanding the immediate termination and arrest of the specific officer who fired the fatal shot.

During a concurrent meeting of the mayor and the board of aldermen, city officials announced that the police officer involved in the shooting has been officially placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. City leaders released a statement extending their condolences and urging the public to remain patient as the complex investigative process unfolds.

However, tensions remained incredibly high throughout Tuesday night. Later in the evening, demonstrators moved their protest from City Hall back to the Walmart parking lot where the shooting originally occurred. According to ground reports from Action News 5, local law enforcement officers eventually deployed tear gas to forcibly disperse the crowds gathered outside the store.

Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump Retained

As the grieving family mourns the loss of Kohen, they have vehemently denied to the press that any shoplifting occurred before the shooting. Seeking urgent legal recourse and a platform for their voices, the family has retained nationally renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump to represent them in their pursuit of justice against the police department.

In a strongly worded public statement released on Tuesday, Crump aggressively condemned the officer’s actions and the use of lethal force.

“A one-year-old child is dead because police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a car in a crowded Walmart parking lot,” Crump stated. “His mother, who has not been charged with any crime, says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car. They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent one-year-old. We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him.”

Ongoing State Investigation by the MBI

Standard protocol dictates that local police departments do not investigate their own officer-involved shootings. As such, the Senatobia Police Department has handed full jurisdiction of the investigation over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI). The MBI is currently tasked with conducting an independent, impartial assessment of the events that led to the discharge of the officer’s weapon.

State investigators are currently working to compile physical evidence, gather independent witness statements, review crucial security camera footage from the Walmart parking lot, and analyze the bullet trajectories through the vehicle’s windshield. Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell has publicly vowed to conduct a completely transparent and thorough investigation into the tragedy.

At this time, authorities have not released the name of the officer involved, nor have any formal criminal charges been filed against the women in the vehicle or the responding officer. As the MBI continues its meticulous work, the Senatobia community remains deeply unsettled, awaiting concrete answers in a tragedy that has left a family completely shattered.