Autopsy raises new questions in Mississippi police shooting of 1-year-old
An independent autopsy says Kohen Wiley’s bullet entered through the car’s side, challenging Mississippi police’s account of the Walmart shooting that killed the 1-year-old.
A preliminary autopsy done at the family’s request by Dr. Roger Mitchell found that 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was struck by a bullet that entered through the side of the car outside a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner said Mitchell concluded Kohen died of a gunshot wound to the torso. They also said the wound pattern was consistent with a round entering from the right side of the vehicle, near the passenger window, with abrasions consistent with pseudo-stippling from tempered glass and a shattered passenger window.
The shooting happened June 14 in Senatobia, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, and the family presented the findings during a news conference at West Gilmore St. Church of Christ, where Kohen’s visitation had been held days earlier.
Police were responding to a shoplifting call when officers encountered “two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle.” The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said the driver then drove in the direction of officers and that an officer fired after almost being struck. Authorities said the driver was also injured. Kohen’s mother has disputed that account, saying she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a family friend and that she tried to tell officers there was a baby in the car.
Sean Tindell, the commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said five agents were working the case, gathering evidence and witness statements and seeking Walmart security footage before the findings go to the state attorney general’s office. The officer who fired has been placed on administrative leave, and officials have not released the officer’s name.
The Tate County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were originally responding to an unrelated incident when their help was requested. Marquell Bridges, a community advocate working with the family, said Kohen’s mother was not the shoplifter and was not a witness to or accomplice to any crime.
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