New autopsy raises questions in Mississippi police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley

The family of Kohen Wiley says a preliminary autopsy contradicts police claims about his killing.

A Mississippi family is demanding answers after a second autopsy in the fatal police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley raises new questions about how the child was killed during an encounter with law enforcement in Senatobia. The family’s attorneys say the preliminary findings contradict the officers’ account that the vehicle was driving toward them when shots were fired, intensifying calls for the release of body camera, dashcam, and surveillance footage as state investigators continue their inquiry.

The Mississippi police shooting autopsy, released by attorneys representing the family, suggests Kohen was shot from the side of the vehicle rather than from the front. According to APNews, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the findings appear to contradict law enforcement’s initial account that officers fired because the vehicle was driving toward them. As reported by theGrio in June, the deceased’s family demanded an independent autopsy so as to get closure and justice.

Kohen was killed on June 14 after police responded to reports of a suspected shoplifting involving diapers at a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia. According to his family, Kohen’s mother was holding the toddler in the front passenger seat while another woman drove the vehicle away from officers.

State investigators previously said officers attempted to stop the car but that the driver accelerated toward them, nearly striking one officer. Authorities said an officer then fired at the vehicle before it left the scene. However, Crump said the independent autopsy indicates the bullet entered Kohen’s body from the right side and exited through the left, with injuries consistent with shattered passenger-side window glass. During a news conference, the family displayed photographs of the damaged vehicle, including a shattered passenger window and what appeared to be a bullet hole in the passenger side of the windshield.

Crump stressed that the autopsy is preliminary and that the pathologist did not have access to all available evidence. He called on authorities to release police body camera footage, dashcam recordings and Walmart surveillance video, arguing that the recordings are necessary to fully determine what happened. “We’re going to continue to demand transparency,” Crump said.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on the preliminary findings, citing the ongoing investigation. Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz said the official autopsy has not yet been completed. Requests for comment were also sent to the Senatobia Police Department and Walmart.

The shooting has prompted demonstrations in Senatobia, where residents have expressed concerns about previous encounters between police and members of the community. Kohen and his mother are Black, and the case has drawn comparisons to other high-profile police shootings involving Black Americans. Crump also questioned why officers opened fire after, according to the initial police account, they had seen two women and a child inside the vehicle before the shooting.

Meanwhile, policing expert Ian Adams said investigators will need to examine the vehicle’s damage, the bullet trajectory, the positions of those inside the car and the officers’ locations before reaching definitive conclusions. As the investigation continues, Kohen’s family says they will continue pressing for the release of video evidence, arguing that it is essential to determining exactly what happened during the fatal encounter.