Video shows police actions leading up to fatal shooting of 1-year-old in car outside Mississippi Walmart
Body camera and surveillance footage from the fatal police shooting of a 1-year-old boy show the moments several police officers rush out of a Mississippi Walmart and open fire as a driver accused of shoplifting tries to pull out of the parking lot.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced this week that no charges would be filed against the officer who opened fire on the car, striking and killing Kohen Wiley in the June 14 incident.
"Today, the Office of the Attorney General announced it has completed the review of a June 14, 2026 incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department," Fitch said in a statement. "In this incident, the Attorney General's Office found the use of force was justified."
The video shows five law enforcement officers running out of the Walmart after being informed a shoplifter is attempting to drive away. When they reach the silver-colored sedan, they surround it and shout repeatedly to "stop the car." The woman driving the car, a friend of Wiley's mother, instead drives forward and nearly hits one of the officers. It is at this point that one of the officers opens fire on the car.
The video, which was posted online by Darkhorse Press, has been verified but not independently obtained by CBS News.
Wiley was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
Wiley's mother and her friend reject accusations they were shoplifting, according to their lawyer, Ben Crump. They have not been charged with any crime. The friend was driving the car, while his mother held Wiley in her lap in the vehicle, Crump said.
"I watched my baby take his first breath and I watched my baby take his last breath," the boy's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said at a press conference alongside Crump in June. She alleges she held up Kohen to show they had a child in the car and stop them from shooting, according to Crump.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation immediately launched an investigation into the incident, which then presented the findings to the attorney general.
"Before anything else, I want to acknowledge the tremendous pain our community is experiencing," Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves said in a statement after the shooting. "The child lost their life. That heartbreaking loss has touched every corner of our community. My thoughts and prayers remain with all those involved. We are committed to transparency throughout this investigation."
Crump and Wiley's family called for body camera to be released after the attorney general decided Monday the officer would not be charged.
"A 1-year-old baby was shot and killed by a police officer, and now the state of Mississippi says that use of force was justified. How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen's family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?" Crump said in a statement earlier this week, also noting the Senatobia police chief was recently fired for allegedly using racial slurs.
"If the footage supports the state's decision, release it," he added. "We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth."
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said it would officially release the video at the end of the week after the family views it.
CBS News reached out to the family's lawyer, Crump, about the video and whether the family has seen it, but he hasn't responded.
