SENATOBIA, Mississippi – A one-year-old boy was killed after a police officer in northern Mississippi shot at a vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart store, the authorities said.
It is not clear what transpired before the shooting on June 14 in Senatobia, the county seat of Tate County, about 64km south of Memphis, Tennessee. But the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that officers with the Senatobia Police Department responded to a shoplifting call around 2pm local time and encountered two people and a child “fleeing from the store into a vehicle”.
The state agency, which declined to answer questions about the shooting, said officers had tried to stop the vehicle, “but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one”.
An officer, whose name has not been released, then fired at the vehicle as it fled the scene, the bureau said. The vehicle eventually arrived at a hospital, where the child was pronounced dead, the authorities said. An adult in the vehicle was also critically injured.
Authorities have neither released the names of the two adults in the vehicle, nor their relation to the child.
Video obtained by a local TV news outlet appears to show a snippet of the incident. In the video, a vehicle can be seen driving away from officers chasing after it. The passenger-side door is briefly swung open. The door is then shut as the vehicle drives off. At least three law enforcement officials are visible in the footage.
The coroner’s office in Tate County identified the child as Kohen Wiley, but declined to specify a cause of death, citing the ongoing investigation.
In a statement, the Police Department said it was committed to “full transparency”.
“As the investigation progresses and facts are verified, we will share as much information as possible,” the department said.
The Tate County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that its deputies were present during the Walmart parking lot shooting because they were dealing with an unrelated incident before their assistance was requested.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation typically shares its findings with the state Attorney-General’s office.
The shooting has garnered scrutiny in Senatobia, a small city of about 8,000 residents. Several residents were planning to pack City Hall during a scheduled meeting on the evening of June 16 and demand answers about the shooting. On Facebook, the hashtag “#JusticeForKohen” was starting to spread.
LiCole Wiley, whose husband is Kohen’s grandfather, said in a brief interview that she had not spoken with the child’s mother since the shooting, or with other relatives closer to the immediate family. She did not have more information on what led to the shooting.
“We’re all feeling shocked,” she said. “Justice for Kohen is all I have to say.” Several other relatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment on June 16.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
