‘Release the footage’: Mississippi protest over police killing of one-year-old

A memorial to Kohen Wiley is seen outside the Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, on 18 June. Photograph: Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network/Reuters Connect View image in fullscreen A memorial to Kohen Wiley is seen outside the Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, on 18 June. Photograph: Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal/USA Today Network/Reuters Connect ‘Release the footage’: Mississippi protest over police killing of one-year-old About 100 marchers demand transparency after Kohen Wiley was shot dead in a car outside a Walmart About 100 people gathered on Friday morning outside of the Walmart in rural Senatobia, Mississippi , to protest about the killing of a one-year-old boy by police earlier this month. Walmart itself was closed, its doors barricaded. During a protest at the Walmart earlier in the week, officers deployed teargas on those gathered to force the crowds to disperse. On 14 June, a Senatobia police officer shot into the passenger side of a vehicle in which Kohen Kartier Wiley, a one-year-old boy, sat on his mother’s lap. The officer’s bullet killed Kohen and injured the woman who was driving the vehicle. “ I watched my baby take his first breath, and I watched my baby take his last breath,” Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen’s mother, said during a press conference on Monday. The Mississippi department of public safety (DPS) has said that officers were responding to a call alleging the theft of diapers, but no shoplifting charges have been filed. Wiley said that the driver of the vehicle paid for the diapers at the store’s self-checkout. Mississippi officer put on leave after killing baby in car outside Walmart Read more A 14 June statement from the DPS said that “officers encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one.” Wiley and some witnesses have disputed the police account, and taken umbrage with officials referring to Kohen, an infant, as a “juvenile”. The family and protesters have since called for full transparency, including for videos of the shooting to be released. The DPS has said that body-camera and security-camera footage would not be released while the Mississippi bureau of investigation investigates the shooting. A public records request identified Sgt Hunter Foster of Senatobia police department as one of the officers present at the shooting. Friday’s protest was one of several in support of Kohen’s family and to demand answers. Led by three vehicles and with chants including “Justice for him! Kohen Wiley,” “If we don’t get it, shut it down” and “Say his name: Kohen Wiley!”, protesters walked down the street from the Walmart. Shortly after they began their march, a sheriff intercepted the crowd on US Highway 51, telling some leaders that they were not permitted to stop traffic. Protesters continued, though with enough speed that they were slowing, but not stopping, t