A Mississippi family is demanding answers after a 1-year-old child was killed when police responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart shot at their vehicle.
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The shooting occurred Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of a Walmart in Senatobia, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Marquell Bridges, a community advocate who is assisting the family with finding an attorney, told The Associated Press that 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was killed in the shooting and a friend of the boy’s mother was seriously injured. The mother was not injured, Bridges said.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said that when Senatobia police officers arrived at the scene, they “encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle,” a news release states.
The agency said police tried to stop the vehicle, “but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one.” An officer then discharged their weapon, firing at the vehicle.
The driver then drove to a nearby hospital, where the child was pronounced dead, the bureau said.
No law enforcement officers were seriously injured, the news release states.
The Senatobia Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the 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 police department said.
The Tate County Sheriff’s Office was also on scene for the shooting. The office said in a news release that deputies had been responding to an unrelated incident when their assistance was requested.
“Please keep the family of the deceased in your thoughts and prayers,” the sheriff’s office said.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Bridges said the boy’s mother did not steal from Walmart “and was not a witness to or accomplice to any crime.”
“She was skipping and playing with her child kohen to the car moments earlier not fleeing a theft,” he said. “What started as an ordinary day, playing with your baby and getting into a car, turned into the worst day of a mother’s life and a tragedy this community will carry for years to come.”
He called on the police department to release body camera footage and store surveillance video.
Carlos Haynes, the child’s grandfather, told the AP that Kohen was a happy baby who had his life cut short.
“Someone ended it all before it could even start,” Haynes said.
The child’s family did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on Tuesday.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said that it will turn its findings over to the Attorney General’s Office once its investigation is complete.
