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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy aren't we talking about this?
The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by police who were responding to a shoplifting call this week has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi.
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 Kohens death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value in this case, allegedly stolen diapers.
We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child, Bernice King, the daughter of civil right icon Martin Luther King, Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.
There are still many unanswered questions about the shooting and what led up to it.
Senatobia police responded to the shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Sunday, where they found two women and a child leaving the store, getting into a car and driving away. According to a statement released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation: 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.
Kohens mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said her son and her friend, who was driving, were hit by gunfire. 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.
https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-child-killed-police-6765009a76070ab7e3578396dff0f6b7
There is no state in which shoplifting is a capital offense, besides which this baby did nothing.
malaise
(299,334 posts)Sickening
Baitball Blogger
(52,847 posts)The mother has hired a pitbull lawyer so hopefully, soon he'll bring the big pieces of evidence forward. It was an unpardonable decision by the police.
SocialDemocrat61
(8,253 posts)Police shooting innocent people of color is not a rare occurrence in this country.
wyn borkins
(1,545 posts)I shall remember you always and forever...

radical noodle
(10,730 posts)according to a report I read last night, is Hunter Foster.
WmChris
(818 posts)Shoplifting is not a capital offense. An officer who would shoot a fleeing shoplifter even though he has a description of the vehicle if not a license number. Has no control over their temper and should be held accountable. Seems like at the very least manslaughter.
Since when is a box diapers justification for using a gun?
TBF
(37,558 posts)he pulls a gun? My god. This is murder. WTF is wrong w/people?
This country has lost its way and does not deserve a 250th birthday celebration.
dalton99a
(96,102 posts)
By Jared Thomas
Published: Jun. 18, 2026
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Action News 5 has obtained five years of officer-involved shooting records from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday afternoon.
Those records list Hunter Foster, along with Kohen Wiley, his mother Vellesiya Wiley and a third person as people involved in Sundays shooting. Action News 5 is working to identify the third person.
An incident report from MBI was too heavily redacted to confirm Hunter Foster as the officer involved.
Action News 5 confirmed through city records Hunter Foster was promoted as a sergeant in Senatobia in September.
...
mountain grammy
(29,327 posts)he shot a baby
That cop should be under arrest.
AverageOldGuy
(4,329 posts)Remember the closing scene?
You know -- the scene in which the old detective says to Jack Nicholson's character:
Americanme
(596 posts)they are underpaid, they have a very stressful job. But, they seem to be trained, or coached, to do some bad things. They always say " he drove toward me, he tried to hit me", even when video shows otherwise. I've seen videos where several police officers are rapidly, simultaneously, yelling "stop resisting, stop resisting, stop resisting", while the defendant is trying to shield himself from blows, and in court the jury is told, the defendant was told 20 times to stop resisting. And firing their service weapon should be a last resort. Can't help but wonder if some are feeling emboldened by ICE's brutal tactics.
chowder66
(12,666 posts)react to pain regardless of what is happening. Fight or Flight is the body's automatic response. The key word is automatic.
Cops are trained in this but they seem to ignore their training over and over.
Once someone experiences pain while be "handled" their trust goes down the drain so they anticipate more pain each time a cop attempts another method to force compliance. I'm guessing there are many cops who know how to handle this and de-escalate the situation but there are too many that don't.
struggle4progress
(127,061 posts)struggle4progress
(127,061 posts)WREG News Channel 3
Jun 18, 2026