A Mississippi police officer shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley on June 14 during a response to a shoplifting call at a Walmart in Senatobia, and critically wounded an adult who was in the vehicle with him. The shooting involved officers from the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff’s Department.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said officers responded to a report of shoplifting at Walmart on U.S. 51, then encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing the store into a vehicle. State officials said the driver then drove in the direction of officers and nearly struck one, after which an officer fired a weapon and the vehicle left the scene. The child and an adult were taken to a local hospital, where Wiley was pronounced dead and the other person was listed in critical condition. No law enforcement officers suffered serious physical injuries, the department said.
The officer who fired has not been identified. That detail has become central because Wiley’s family denied that any shoplifting took place, even as police said they were responding to a shoplifting report. A witness told WREG she saw two women leave the store before the shooting, one carrying a box of diapers and one carrying the infant. Family members said the child’s mother was riding in the passenger seat holding Wiley when he was shot, and that his aunt, who was driving, was critically injured.
The Senatobia Police Department said in a social media post that the incident happened at about 2:05 p.m. and that preliminary reports showed officers had responded to a shoplifting call before discharging their firearms. The investigation was turned over to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and no arrests had been announced at the time of the report. Community members also planned to gather at Senatobia City Hall at 5 p.m. on Tuesday to call for accountability in Wiley’s killing.
What remains unanswered is how a shoplifting response turned into a shooting that left a toddler dead. Until investigators identify the officer and explain the moments before the gunfire, the case will sit at the center of public anger and official scrutiny.
