Family of 1-year-old killed by police at a Walmart in Mississippi wants
video released
[June 23, 2026]
By RUSS BYNUM
A Mississippi family whose 1-year-old child was killed when police fired
into a moving vehicle said Monday they want authorities to release video
showing whether officers were in danger of being struck when one of them
opened fire.
The shooting has sparked outrage in the small city of Senatobia, where
some say it’s the latest in a series of troubling encounters between
police and Black residents.
Kohen Wiley was riding with his mother and another woman in a Walmart
parking lot on June 14 when police responded to a shoplifting call. The
family says they were driving away, while the officers say the car was
heading toward them.
“I watched my baby take his first breath, and I watched my baby take his
last breath,” Vellesiya Wiley said at a news conference Monday.
The other woman in the car, whose name has not been released, suffered
“critical injuries,” according to the Mississippi Bureau of
Investigation, which is handling the inquiry.
Standing alongside Kohen’s parents and grandparents at a local church,
civil rights attorney Ben Crump told reporters Monday that the best way
to determine whether the officers were at risk is to publicly release
any body camera, dash camera or Walmart security camera video.
“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
videos investigators have or whether they would be released, agency
spokesperson Bailey Martin said Monday.
“This case has been made a top priority,” Martin said in an emailed
statement, “and we currently have multiple agents working tirelessly to
ensure every aspect of the investigation is thoroughly examined.”
The agency says the officers weren’t hurt. Senatobia Police Chief Harold
Vanderford did not return a phone message seeking comment Monday.
State investigators gave an initial account of the shooting last week,
saying that when Senatobia police arrived at the Walmart, they found two
women and a child getting into a car and driving away.
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In this photo provided by Marquell Bridges, a group of mourners
attend a makeshift memorial for 1-year old Kohen Wiley, outside the
Walmart where the boy was shot by police in Senatobia, Miss., on
Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (Courtesy Marquell Bridges via AP)
“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 agency
statement said.
Kohen's mother has said the shoplifting call was over a box of
diapers that her friend was carrying — and that she believes her
friend had paid for the diapers. State investigators declined to
comment on those details.
Crump questioned why police didn't let the car go and take down the
license plate number.
“They were called over a box of diapers and a family now has to bury
their baby,” Crump said Monday. “You cannot put those two things
next to each other and call it reasonable policing.”
Crump also said an independent autopsy would be performed.
While there's no question the child was shot by police, he said,
details about the angles at which any bullets struck the child could
yield clues as to whether the officer fired from in front of the car
or off to the side — and therefore whether that officer was in any
danger.
Policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the
University of South Carolina, told The Associated Press last week
that police should know that “shooting into a moving vehicle is a
very bad idea and one to be avoided at almost all costs,” noting the
danger to passengers and other bystanders.
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