‘It’s Just Too Much’: Mississippi Police Shoots and Kills a 1-Year-Old Black Baby Over an Alleged Stolen Box of Diapers
A Mississippi cop shot and killed a 1-year-old Black baby named Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot Sunday over an alleged stolen box of diapers.
Investigators claim the Senatobia cop who fired was in fear for their life because the getaway car was driving straight toward the officer.
But multiple witnesses told local media they saw no such thing, confirming they saw two Black women running out of Walmart, one holding a box of diapers, the other holding the baby, before getting into the car.
Cops Feared for Life
They say one cop fired at least two shots as officers were running after the car in the Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, which is 40 miles north of Memphis, with a population of less than 10,000 people. The shooting critically injured one of the women in the car.
The Senatobia Police Department has a long history of violence and unlawful arrests against Black people.
Video footage from local media shows the car with a shattered passenger-side window and a bullet hole toward the left side of the windshield, suggesting the cop fired from the side of the car.
Multiple surveillance cameras monitor the parking lot and should have captured the shooting, but authorities have not released any video so far.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting the investigation and issued the following statement to the media:
“Law enforcement officers responded to a shoplifting call at Walmart on U.S. 51,” the state agency said. “Upon arrival, officers encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle.”
“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.”
History of Abuse
For a small-town police department, the Senatobia Police Department has made national news several times over the years.
In 2025, a Senatobia police officer yanked a Black woman out of her car while she was parked in a handicap spot with a handicap placard in the same Walmart where the recent shooting took place.
Breshari Faulkner told the cop she was waiting for her handicapped grandmother shopping inside, which is legal, but the cop arrested her anyway.
In 2024, a Black woman named Shanterra Jackson filed a lawsuit against the Senatobia Police Department, claiming she was raped by an officer named Willis McNeil after he turned off his body camera. The lawsuit remains pending.
In 2023, Senatobia police arrested a 10-year-old Black boy named Quantavious Eason for public urination, which led to the firing of an officer and a lawsuit that remains pending.
The boy had been sitting in his mother’s car in a parking lot while his mother was in a law office seeking legal advice. The boy needed to relieve himself, but the office had a sign saying, “No public restroom.”
The boy then tried to discreetly urinate between the open car door and the car, turning his back to the public, but police arrested him anyway, sparking national outrage.
Family Reactions
The latest case is once again sparking national outrage. The shattered passenger window and the bullet hole on the passenger side of the windshield suggest the officer was not even aiming at the driver to protect themself from being run over.
“Senatobia Police Department get away with too much stuff,” Carolyn Stokes, Kohen’s great-grandmother, told WREG-TV.
“I hear about it all the time. It’s in the news all the time. Y’all probably down here all the time, recording this stuff, but it’s just too much.”