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SENATOBIA, Miss. (BFMG) — The family of a 1-year-old boy shot and killed during a police encounter in a Walmart parking lot in north Mississippi is demanding answers and accountability as state investigators probe the incident.
The child, identified by relatives as Kohen Wiley, died Sunday after officers with the Senatobia Police Department and the Tate County Sheriff’s Office opened fire on a vehicle outside the Walmart on U.S. Highway 51, according to authorities.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said officers were responding to a reported shoplifting when they encountered two adults and a young child leaving the store and getting into a vehicle. Investigators said officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver accelerated in the direction of officers, nearly striking one of them.
An officer then discharged a weapon, and the vehicle fled the scene. Authorities said the driver, the child’s mother and the child later arrived at a local hospital. Kohen was pronounced dead, and a woman from the vehicle was listed in critical condition.
Relatives say the shooting has left the family devastated and searching for explanations. They say they are struggling to understand how a shoplifting call — which they believe involved diapers — escalated into gunfire that killed a toddler and gravely injured an adult. Family members have called for everyone involved in the chain of events leading up to the shooting to be held responsible.
They say their focus now is on pursuing justice for Kohen and ensuring that the circumstances surrounding his death are fully examined. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading the inquiry into the shooting. Once its investigation is complete, the agency is expected to present its findings to the appropriate prosecutors.
In a statement, the Senatobia Police Department said it is committed to transparency and pledged to release additional information as the investigation progresses and key facts are verified.
We reached out to Law Enforcement Training Expert Brian Bennett of Clearview Justice Training and Consulting, to learn more about how officers are trained to respond when a vehicle is in front of them.
Brian Bennett has more than 28 years of law enforcement experience. He is a court certified expert who has trained tens of thousands of officers and written training materials at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.
Bennett says key Supreme Court decisions and department policies shape officers’ use-of-force decisions in cases like this. We discussed Barnes v. Felix (2026) and Tennessee v. Garner (1985), focusing on how these rulings define when deadly force may be used, especially in situations involving fleeing suspects and perceived threats.
Bennett also walked through agency policy, procedure, and training, including formal standards on deadly force, specific guidance on shooting at a moving vehicle, and the role of firearms and shoot/don’t-shoot training in preparing officers for rapid decision-making under stress.
We connected the nature of the alleged crime of shoplifting followed by fleeing to the need for force and talked about what thorough investigative follow-up should look like, from assessing threat level and proportionality to developing investigative leads and ensuring the incident is rigorously reviewed.
As the investigation continues into this case, we will continue to follow it.
