Calls for justice are growing after 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was shot and killed by police responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi.
Police reportedly fired into the car of a shoplifting suspect. The officer alleged the vehicle was accelerating toward him at the time of that the deadly shooting. The family of the toddler is now seeking an independent autopsy after his death.
Their attorney Benjamin Crump questioning the police response, saying, "They were called over a box of diapers, and a family now has to bury their baby. You cannot put those two things next to each other and call it reasonable policing!"
Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was a passenger in the vehicle. She says the car was not moving toward the officers and added she held the toddler up so officers would know there was a baby in the car, just before the shots were fired. Her emotions evident as she said, "I watched my baby take his first breaths, and watched my baby take his last breath."
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The officer who fired the shots has been placed on administrative leave. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has promised transparency as they gather evidence, including security and police body camera video of the incident. The MBI says it will release that video only after the investigation is complete.
Civil Rights attorney Van Turner called for the video to be released immediately, saying, "We don't have to wait six to nine months, they can release the body cam footage of the officers. The officers had body cams on. We know if their lives were in danger because we can tell from the body cam footage."
The driver of the car was critically injured during the shooting, though her injuries are not considered life-threatening. Vellesiya Wiley has not been accused or charged with shoplifting following the incident.
