Why aren't we talking about this?

[Jilly_in_VA]

The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by police who were responding to a shoplifting call this week has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi.

The death of Kohen Wiley is the latest in a series of troubling encounters with police that have outraged community members in recent years. It has led to protests and calls for greater police accountability in the town of 8,000, with some civil rights activists pointing to Kohen’s death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value — in this case, allegedly stolen diapers.

“We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child,” Bernice King, the daughter of civil right icon Martin Luther King, Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.”

There are still many unanswered questions about the shooting and what led up to it.

Senatobia police responded to the shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Sunday, where they found two women and a child leaving the store, getting into a car and driving away. According to a statement released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”

Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said her son and her friend, who was driving, were hit by gunfire. In a video posted on social media Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Wiley said her friend was not driving toward the officers because they were “all on the right side and she was driving towards the left.”

She also disputes the shoplifting claim, saying in the video that she believes her friend paid for the diapers she was carrying.

https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-child-killed-police-6765009a76070ab7e3578396dff0f6b7

There is no state in which shoplifting is a capital offense, besides which this baby did nothing.

[malaise]

1. There were threads about this earlier in the week

Sickening

[H2O Man]

24. Recommended.

Yes, there were ..... and I assume a lot of us have been talking about it in person or on other internet forums. It is horrible that this happened.

Before retiring, I taught a class at the local university for town, county, and state police about reponding to community-based crises. It was focused on dealing with people suffering from major mental illnesses and/or Cluster B personality disorders. I'm not attempting to compare those situations with shoplifting. But I will say that there was always one in the class where I thought if they were allowed to have a badge and gun, bad things would likely happen.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. This one stunned me. I have been watching as the news comes in.

The mother has hired a pitbull lawyer so hopefully, soon he'll bring the big pieces of evidence forward. It was an unpardonable decision by the police.

[SocialDemocrat61]

3. Unfortunately

Police shooting innocent people of color is not a rare occurrence in this country.

[wyn borkins]

4. Thank you Kohen Kartier Wiley for helping me with my yardwork this day

I shall remember you always and forever...

[MustLoveBeagles]

19. He was adorable 🥰

That poor little guy 😔

[bdamomma]

25. What a beautiful

child.

[radical noodle]

5. The name of the officer who shot him

according to a report I read last night, is Hunter Foster.

[WmChris]

6. Shoplifting?

Shoplifting is not a capital offense. An officer who would shoot a fleeing shoplifter even though he has a description of the vehicle if not a license number. Has no control over their temper and should be held accountable. Seems like at the very least manslaughter.

[PatSeg]

8. Exactly

Since when is a box diapers justification for using a gun?

[Trueblue Texan]

20. Any decent cop, or any decent human being would have paid for the damn diapers! nt

[sop]

28. Their sole justification is they claim the driver tried to strike them with the car as they left the parking lot,

and they were in fear for their lives. Isn't that what cops always say when they shoot at a moving vehicle trying to get away?

[Wiz Imp]

29. Not a legitimate excuse. Against Law Enforcement Policy

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21311094

[PatSeg]

30. Yep, that has become their catchall excuse it seems

ICE also uses that one a lot.

[TBF]

16. Manslaughter - he's so afraid of a desperate mom that

he pulls a gun? My god. This is murder. WTF is wrong w/people?

This country has lost its way and does not deserve a 250th birthday celebration.

[bdamomma]

26. Our

moral compass is gone. Hate and ugliness has permeated into society, because we have fascism.

[dalton99a]

7. .

https://www.actionnews5.com/2026/06/19/records-reveal-name-senatobia-officer-involved-shooting-that-killed-1-year-old/


By Jared Thomas
Published: Jun. 18, 2026

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Action News 5 has obtained five years of officer-involved shooting records from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday afternoon.

Those records list Hunter Foster, along with Kohen Wiley, his mother Vellesiya Wiley and a third person as people involved in Sunday’s shooting. Action News 5 is working to identify the third person.

An incident report from MBI was too heavily redacted to confirm Hunter Foster as the officer involved.

Action News 5 confirmed through city records Hunter Foster was promoted as a sergeant in Senatobia in September.

...

[mountain grammy]

9. My goyd

he shot a baby

That cop should be under arrest.

[AverageOldGuy]

10. Did you ever watch the movie "Chinatown?"

Remember the closing scene?

You know -- the scene in which the old detective says to Jack Nicholson's character:

Forget it, Jake. It's Mississippi.

[Americanme]

11. I believe police serve a vital function, we depend on them,

they are underpaid, they have a very stressful job. But, they seem to be trained, or coached, to do some bad things. They always say " he drove toward me, he tried to hit me", even when video shows otherwise. I've seen videos where several police officers are rapidly, simultaneously, yelling "stop resisting, stop resisting, stop resisting", while the defendant is trying to shield himself from blows, and in court the jury is told, the defendant was told 20 times to stop resisting. And firing their service weapon should be a last resort. Can't help but wonder if some are feeling emboldened by ICE's brutal tactics.

[chowder66]

17. The "stop resisting" pisses me off to no end. There is resisting arrest and then there is resisting pain - the body will

react to pain regardless of what is happening. Fight or Flight is the body's automatic response. The key word is automatic.
Cops are trained in this but they seem to ignore their training over and over.
Once someone experiences pain while be "handled" their trust goes down the drain so they anticipate more pain each time a cop attempts another method to force compliance. I'm guessing there are many cops who know how to handle this and de-escalate the situation but there are too many that don't.

[druidity33]

21. A book i recently read breaks this down.

It's called "Talking To Strangers" by Malcolm Gladwell. Thought provoking read. It was prompted by the death of Sandra Bland.

[struggle4progress]

12. Lynch law is alive in Mississippi

[struggle4progress]

13. Attorney for Kohen Wiley's family wants video of shooting released

WREG News Channel 3
Jun 18, 2026

[1WorldHope]

14. How sad. And how fucking stupid.

[Joinfortmill]

15. Incompetence with horrific results.

[Zackzzzz]

18. I would never shop at Walmart.

Again and again, they call the police for what is something under $20 bucks.
Loveland, Co, is a great example, Old woman, broken arm, dislocated shoulder.

Really, who is training these police?

And finally, a package of diapers vs a golden ballroom.
$20 {+death} vs $300,000 million {maybe+}.

[debsy]

22. For alleged shoplifting, a 1-year old loses his life, a mother loses her son, a family loses their beloved...

Meanwhile, there is a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist, accompanied by his family and friends, raping and pillaging our country, murdering and torturing citizens and foreigners alike, ruining lives left and right and nobody is doing anything.

[pansypoo53219]

23. petty crimes are not death penalty crimes. copsusing deadly force WAY WAY toooooo much.

[RockRaven]

27. In no particular order:

A) since cops average 3-4 kills per day in the US, people are swamped/numbed
B) racism
C) children are treated like parents' property, not their own person
D) people are indoctrinated into authoritarian notions of deserts