A mother held her baby and begged officers to stop. They fired anyway. Now a community demands answers.
A 1-year-old boy named Kohen Kartier Wiley is dead. His mother says she held him in her arms and screamed to tell police he was there before an officer opened fire in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, Mississippi. The officer fired anyway. The killing of Kohen Wiley over what police described as a shoplifting call for a box of diapers has shaken a small town, drawn national civil rights attention, and forced a painful question back into the American conscience: why does this keep happening?
What Happened on June 14
A Mississippi police officer shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, killing him, in response to a shoplifting call at the Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, on Sunday, June 14, 2026.
The shooting occurred Sunday afternoon in the store’s parking lot in Senatobia, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.
Kohen Wiley was in a vehicle with his mother and a family friend when he was fatally shot, said civil rights attorney Ben Crump. The friend was critically injured, he said.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said in a statement that when Senatobia police officers arrived, they “encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle.” The state agency said police tried to stop the vehicle, “but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one.” An officer then discharged their weapon, firing at the vehicle, according to the MBI.
But the family tells a sharply different story.
The Mother’s Account
Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said in a video released through her attorneys that her friend was being pursued for allegedly shoplifting diapers.
In a video posted on social media Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Wiley said her friend was not driving toward the officers because they were “all on the right side and she was driving towards the left.”
She also disputes the shoplifting claim, saying in the video that she believes her friend paid for the diapers she was carrying.
Vellesiya Wiley released a video in which she said she had attempted to show law enforcement that a toddler was in her arms before the officer discharged their weapon at the car where she and her son were passengers.
Before the shooting, a witness saw two women exit the store: one carrying a single box of diapers, and one carrying the infant child.
Another witness told the news station that she saw the car driving away with police officers chasing after it on foot just before hearing gunshots.
What Police Say
The 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. The subjects arrived at a local hospital where one juvenile child in the vehicle was pronounced deceased, and another subject had critical injuries.” None of the officers was seriously injured, investigators said.
Members of Kohen Wiley’s family have denied that any shoplifting took place.
The Officer: What We Know
Public records obtained by Memphis Action News 5 identified Senatobia Police Department Sergeant Hunter Foster as one of the officers present during the June 14, 2026, police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in the parking lot of the Senatobia Walmart.
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation records show Hunter Foster as the officer involved.
However, transparency from officials has been minimal.
Heavy redactions prevent the publicly available documents from identifying the officer who fired their weapon. As of Friday, there is no public confirmation that Foster is the officer responsible.
The Senatobia Police Department hired Foster on March 4, 2025. Only months later, on September 16, Foster was promoted to Sergeant, the role he currently occupies.
The Senatobia police officer who fired the shot was placed on administrative leave Tuesday evening. The officer has not been identified by officials, and body camera footage has not been released.
Tindell said body-camera footage will be released once the investigation is completed.
Family and Civil Rights Leaders Respond
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the families of Tyre Nichols and others, did not mince words.
“A 1-year-old child is dead because police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a car in a crowded Walmart parking lot. Kohen Wiley was a baby. His mother, who has not been charged with any crime, says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car. They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent 1-year-old. We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him.”
Attorney Van Turner will also be representing the family of Wiley alongside Crump.
The response went beyond the legal team.
Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram: “We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child.” “That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.”
Kohen’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, remembered him simply as a joyful child.
She described him as a sweet child and said: “He just loved on me, and I loved on him.” One of his favorite toys was a little lawnmower that would blow bubbles when pushed. Roberson would sit outside with him while he played with it. “He really thought he was mowing my yard,” she said, laughing a little at the memory.
Protests, Tear Gas, and a Town on Edge
People scattered in a Walmart parking lot on Tuesday as law enforcement officers, who were wearing gas masks and lined up under the store’s grocery-side entrance, unleashed tear gas on the crowd that had gathered to protest the police killing of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.
Protesters gathered by the dozens to rally outside of Senatobia City Hall in the wake of the shooting, calling for the police officer’s arrest and firing.
Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves eventually broke his silence.
Graves offered his condolences for the loss of Kohen, and said the city is committed to transparency as the investigation continues. “I recognize this is a deeply painful and devastating situation for our community,” Graves said. “And I ask everyone to continue to treat one another with dignity and respect as we all navigate through this loss together.”
Two blocks away from City Hall on the steps of the Tate County Courthouse, Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell sought to calm the furor, vowing transparency once the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation finishes investigating Kohen Wiley’s shooting.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the probe into the incident and will submit its findings to the state attorney general’s office, as family members of the child question why the response escalated to gunfire.
A Pattern of Misconduct in Senatobia
For many residents of Senatobia, the killing of Kohen Wiley did not arrive without warning.
The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by police has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town of Senatobia. The death of Kohen Wiley is the latest in a series of troubling encounters with police that have outraged community members in recent years. It has led to protests and calls for greater police accountability in the town of 8,000, with some civil rights activists pointing to Kohen’s death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value.
The incidents form a troubling pattern:
- Last year, an officer threatened Breshari Faulkner with a Taser, pulled her from her car onto the ground and arrested her during a confrontation over a handicapped parking space in the same Walmart lot where Kohen was shot.
- In 2023, 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. 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 boy’s family settled a federal lawsuit with the city earlier this year.
“We lost a child because of carelessness, recklessness of the police,” said Breshari Faulkner, 27, who was born in Senatobia, a town of 8,500 people about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee.
“We’ve had a lot of situations of police brutality that led up to this right here,” said one Senatobia resident. “All the police brutality that led up to this was left unchecked. If it had been checked in the past, maybe we wouldn’t be talking about this baby being killed.” The community has “no trust” in police after previous incidents.
What Experts Say About Shooting Into Vehicles
The tactics used here have drawn direct criticism from law enforcement professionals.
Policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said regardless of the circumstances, the officer should not have fired at the car. “Modern policing knows that shooting into a moving vehicle is a very bad idea and one to be avoided at almost all costs,” Adams said. For one thing, “vehicles have other occupants, which is obviously a concern here in the current case.”
The case also drew comparisons to a chilling precedent.
Kohen was Black, as are his mother and her friend, and the circumstances quickly drew comparisons to Ta’Kiya Young, who was pregnant and was shot by police in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb in 2023 after they attempted to apprehend her over an alleged shoplifting call. Police said Young got into her car and accelerated in the direction of the officer who fired at her through the windshield. Both Young and her unborn daughter were killed. The officer in that case was acquitted of criminal charges and found justified in his use of force by a review board.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Victim: Kohen Kartier Wiley, 1 year old, Black
- Date: June 14, 2026, Sunday afternoon
- Location: Walmart parking lot, Senatobia, Mississippi (approx. 40 miles south of Memphis)
- Officer identified:
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation records show Hunter Foster as the officer involved. - Status:
The officer who shot Kohen has been placed on administrative leave, a standard practice, while the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation looks into what happened. - Body camera:
Bodycam footage will not be released at this time, as the case remains under investigation. - Arrests:
No arrests have been announced in the incident. - Family’s legal team: Attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner
The Demands Are Clear
The family of Kohen Wiley, their attorneys, community advocates, and civil rights leaders are united in what they want. They are calling for:
- The immediate release of all body camera and Walmart surveillance footage
- Criminal charges against the officer who fired into the vehicle
- A full independent investigation of the Senatobia Police Department’s use-of-force patterns
- Accountability for a department with a documented record of aggressive policing against Black residents
Attorney Van Turner, one of the attorneys representing the family, says the release of the bodycam footage and surveillance video from Walmart will help answer a lot of unanswered questions in this case.
A Community That Cannot Wait
Kohen Wiley never got to walk. He never got to grow up. His grandmother says he had the prettiest smile she had ever seen. He loved a little bubble-blowing lawnmower. He was one year old.
The question facing Senatobia, Mississippi, and this nation is not complicated. When a police officer fires a weapon into a car containing a baby over a box of diapers, and that baby dies, what happens next? Will investigators deliver a full and honest account? Will the officer face criminal charges? Will a pattern of unchecked aggression in a small Mississippi town finally be confronted?
The people of Senatobia are watching. The nation is watching. And the family of Kohen Kartier Wiley is not going away.
If you want justice for Kohen Wiley, make some noise. Share this story. Contact Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves’ office and demand a full, independent investigation. Support the Building Bridges Coalition, the advocacy group working directly with the Wiley family on the ground in Senatobia. And stay informed as this story develops, because the most important chapter has not yet been written.
