A Mississippi family whose 1-year-old child was killed when police fired into a moving car offered evidence Wednesday that they say challenges the officers’ account of being in danger when one opened fire.
A preliminary autopsy requested by the family of Kohen Wiley suggested the baby was shot from the side of the car, not the front, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said, disputing officers’ claims that the car was heading toward them. Kohen’s mother, who was holding her baby in the passenger seat, says her friend was driving away from the officers.
Kohen and his mother are Black, and the June 14 shooting has sparked protests and outrage in the small town of Senatobia. Residents point to a string of troubling encounters with police in recent years. Crump said the child was killed after police were called to a Walmart parking lot about diapers that may have been shoplifted.
“We’re going to try to continue to demand transparency,” Crump said. He spoke from the pulpit of Senatobia Church of Christ, surrounded by more than a dozen people including the baby’s grandparents, some of them holding “Justice for Baby Kohen” signs.
However, Crump repeatedly emphasized that the pathologist did not have access to complete information. He said the family won’t rest until authorities release the police body camera and dashcam video, as well as Walmart surveillance video.
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is in charge of the ongoing inquiry, declined to comment Wednesday. Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz said in an email the official autopsy report is not complete. An email was sent to Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford seeking comment.
An email was also sent to a Walmart spokesperson seeking comment.
On display at the church were photos and diagrams of Kohen’s body and a photo of the car. The passenger window was shattered and an apparent bullet hole pierced the windshield on the passenger side. The other woman in the car was badly wounded, authorities said.
The broken passenger-side window indicates a bullet was fired into that side the car, Crump said.
The preliminary findings, Crump said, show the bullet entered the baby’s torso on his right side and exited on his left. Crump said that assessment is supported by the clusters of cuts on the right side of his chest and abdomen that would have been caused by the broken tempered glass.
“That’s very important as we try to solve a puzzle,” he explained, adding: “The reason that we’re having to try to solve the puzzle is because they won’t release the video.”
In an initial account of the shooting, state investigators said: “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.”
Investigators will try to figure out the vehicle’s position, how everyone was sitting inside, and where the officers were standing, said policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina. They will need to look at damage to the car as well as bullet wounds, because people can move around.
“We need to know a lot more before drawing firm conclusions based on bullet wounds alone,” Adams said.
The killing has drawn comparisons to other instances where Black people lost their life over accusations of petty criminal offenses, such as the murder of George Floyd. Kohen’s mom says she thought her friend had paid for the diapers.
Crump, who rose to prominence representing the families of Floyd and other Black people killed by police, emphasized that the officers’ own report says they saw two women and a child get into the car. He questioned why the officer would shoot, knowing there was a kid inside.
“They want us to believe that it was a life-or-death situation,” he added. “They told us that, but they have not showed us that.”