Kohen Wiley’s family demands independent autopsy and release of police video

Ben Crump says new evidence could help determine whether the officer’s account of the fatal shooting holds up.

Eight days after a Senatobia, Mississippi police officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside a Walmart during a shoplifting call, the baby’s family is demanding an independent autopsy and the immediate release of all video footage.

The announcement came Monday at a press conference held at a local church, where civil rights attorney Ben Crump appeared alongside Kohen’s parents and grandmothers. As theGrio reported when the story broke, Kohen was in a car with his mother Vellesiya Wiley and a family friend when officers fired into the vehicle on June 14, responding to a call about an alleged box of diapers being shoplifted. TheGrio also covered the protests and officer leave that followed, including tear gas being fired at demonstrators outside the Walmart on Tuesday evening. According to the Newsweek, Crump’s team says the bullet’s trajectory is key to determining whether the officer’s account holds up.

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“If it is verified that the bullet entered the right side of the baby’s body and exited the left side of the baby’s body, then that means that the bullet came from the side,” Crump said at the press conference. “And how are you in harm’s way if the bullet is coming from the side?”

Kohen’s mother addressed reporters directly, sharing for the first time a statement about witnessing both her son’s birth and death. “I watched my baby take his first breath and I watched my baby take his last breath,” Vellesiya Wiley said. “I’m still in disbelief about the traumatizing event that occurred that took my one and only child, baby Kohen. I ask that you keep my family in your prayers and justice for baby Kohen.”

The autopsy results are expected by July 1, three days after his funeral, which is scheduled for June 27. Crump and co-counsel Van Turner are also demanding the release of officer body camera footage and Walmart surveillance video.

“They will not have to take anyone’s word for how baby Kohen died,” Crump said. “They will have the truth examined by someone who answers to no one but the facts.” The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has said it will not release video until the investigation is complete.