Key Takeaways

• A 1-year-old child, identified by reports as Kohen Wiley, died after an officer fired at a vehicle during a response to a reported shoplifting call at a Senatobia Walmart.
• The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe and will submit its findings to the state attorney general’s office.
• The incident has prompted renewed examination of the department’s past handling of cases involving minors, including a separate case involving a 10-year-old.

The death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley after a police shooting outside a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, is renewing questions about how the city’s police department handles encounters involving children.

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (per the Associated Press), Senatobia Police officers and Tate County sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported shoplifting call at the store on Sunday (June 14) afternoon. Authorities said two adults and a child got into a vehicle after leaving the Walmart. As officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the driver allegedly drove in the direction of officers and nearly struck one of them, MBI said. An officer then fired at the car.

The occupants later arrived at a local hospital, where Kohen was pronounced dead. Another adult was critically injured. Authorities said no officers were seriously injured. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the probe and is expected to share its findings with the state attorney general’s office.

Family members identified the child as Kohen and questioned why the response escalated to gunfire. “I just want justice,” his grandfather, Carlos Haynes, told Action News 5. Carolyn Stokes, Kohen’s great-grandmother, said relatives were left with limited information after the shooting. “All we know is that a car was shot up and a one-year-old baby was killed,” she said.

Senatobia Police Department's 2023 case involving another child

The shooting also brought renewed attention to a 2023 incident involving the same department. Senatobia Police previously faced national criticism after officers took Quantavious Eason, a 10-year-old Black child, into custody after he urinated behind his mother’s vehicle while she was inside a local business.

As revealed in an AP report at that time, Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler confirmed one officer involved in Eason’s arrest and jailing was no longer employed by the department, and other officers would be disciplined. Chandler also said the officers violated their training on how to deal with children.

The case later moved through youth court. A judge initially ordered the child to serve three months of probation and write a book report about Kobe Bryant. In February 2024, the punishment was dropped after a judge dismissed the petition seeking to designate the child as needing supervision.