Mississippi attorney general says use of force was justified in death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley

Mississippi’s attorney general says a Senatobia police officer was justified in the use of force in the June shooting death of a 1-year-old boy while responding to a shoplifting call.

The conclusion of the state’s investigation into the shooting death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley follows months of mourning and calls for justice, both nationally and in the small town about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee, where the shooting took place.

The shooting occurred in mid-June as Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting call at a local Walmart, where they saw Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen’s mother, carrying her son as she and a friend left the store, got into a car and began driving away. Wiley and her friend are both Black. Police reports indicate diapers and baby clothes were allegedly stolen.

According to a statement released shortly after the shooting by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the car drove toward law enforcement, prompting an officer to fire into the car, striking Kohen and his mother’s friend.

In a video released days after the shooting, Vellesiya Wiley denied that she or her friend stole anything and disputed that her friend, who was driving, headed toward the officers. Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil rights attorney who is representing Kohen’s family, has said results of a preliminary independent autopsy indicate Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front, contradicting officers’ claims that the car was heading toward them.