Police Officer Shoots & Kills 1-Year-Old Kohen Kartier Wiley During Walmart Shoplifting Call

What happened to one-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley in Senatobia, Mississippi, looks less like a justified use of force and more like an avoidable tragedy. On June 14, 2026, officers from the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff's Department responded to a shoplifting call at a Walmart and ended up firing into a sedan carrying the toddler, his mother, and his aunt. Kohen was killed. His aunt, who was driving, was critically wounded.

The state's official account says the shooting happened because the driver accelerated toward officers and nearly hit one of them. But that explanation contains its own troubling admission: it indicates officers already knew a baby was in the car before any shots were fired. That raises an obvious question, why use lethal force at all, knowing an infant's life was on the line? 

Cellphone footage obtained by a Memphis television station instead shows the car driving away from police, not toward them, and photos of the vehicle show a bullet hole through the front windshield on the passenger side, right where Kohen was reportedly riding in his mother's lap.

The Wiley family flatly disputes that any shoplifting occurred. Relatives say witnesses saw two women leave the store, one carrying a single box of diapers, the other carrying the baby,  and another bystander reported seeing officers chase the fleeing car on foot just before gunshots rang out. No officer has been named, and no arrests have been made.

Kohen's great-grandmother, Carolyn Stokes, captured the community's frustration, saying police "get away with too much stuff." Residents are gathering outside Senatobia City Hall this evening to demand accountability.

The Senatobia Police Department has handed the investigation to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and promised transparency, while Walmart said only that it is cooperating with authorities. None of that changes the basic fact at the center of this story: a one-year-old is dead, shot while riding in his mother's arms during what his family says was a dispute over a box of diapers. Our thoughts are with the family and we’ll update as more information comes out.

Link: Mississippi Free Press  

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