Newly released body-camera video shows the tense moments before a Mississippi police officer fatally shot a one-year-old boy in a Walmart parking lot, after authorities said the child’s mother and aunt attempted to leave the scene.
The incident happened on June 14 outside a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi. Kohen Wiley was killed inside a vehicle after his mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and her sister were allegedly accused of shoplifting.
The shooting prompted public anger and accusations of police brutality. The footage was released after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the officers involved would not face criminal charges.
Fitch said investigators concluded that the officers’ use of force was “justified.” The video begins after officers were alerted to an alleged theft at the store and moved to intercept the women.
The footage, initially published by Darkhorse Press, opens with a man rushing into the Walmart security office. He warns officers that two women were fleeing, repeating: “Two women are running, two women are running.”
Officers immediately ran outside and pursued Wiley’s vehicle as it appeared to be leaving the Walmart parking lot.
Police surrounded the car and repeatedly shouted for the driver to stop. Moments later, officials said, Wiley’s sister accelerated toward the officers and struck them with the vehicle.
Several shots were fired as the vehicle moved forward. Kohen, who was inside the car, was struck and later died, according to officials.
Body-camera video captures the chaotic confrontation before a one-year-old boy was fatally shot by police in a Mississippi Walmart parking lot.
One-year-old Kohen Wiley was killed in June after police opened fire as his mother and aunt allegedly attempted to drive away from a Walmart in Senatobia.
Authorities said Wiley’s sister was behind the wheel. Wiley has maintained that officers knew a baby was in the vehicle, saying she lifted Kohen into the air during the confrontation.
The women’s attorney, Ben Crump, said both deny the shoplifting allegations. Neither woman has been charged in connection with the incident.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation examined the shooting before submitting its findings to the attorney general’s office. Prosecutors ultimately decided not to charge any of the officers involved.
In a statement released this week, Fitch’s office said the shooting was determined to involve “justified” force but did not publicly explain the basis for that conclusion.
Crump previously told Our News Outlet that Senatobia Police Sergeant Hunter Foster, identified as the officer who shot Kohen, had allegedly been the subject of a complaint over a racially offensive remark two days before the shooting.
Video shows Wiley leaving the Walmart shortly before officers began chasing her toward the parking lot.
Kohen Wiley died after an officer opened fire outside the Senatobia Walmart while police were responding to an alleged shoplifting incident. He is pictured with his mother.
The child was struck in the ribcage and was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
A visible bullet hole appears on the passenger side of the vehicle.
In a video released days after the shooting, Vellesiya denied that she or her sister stole anything and disputed that her sister, who was driving, headed toward the officers.
She also said that she ‘raised’ her baby up in the air ‘to show them (the police officers) that he was in the car.’
However, an officer opened fire, and one of the bullets struck the boy in his rib cage.
‘We left and went to Senatobia Hospital, where he was pronounced dead,’ the heartbroken mother said.
