Kohen Wiley Family Lawyer Says Police Bodycam Will Show ‘Excessive Force'

An attorney for the family of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley says police bodycam footage will show “excessive force” in the deadly police-involved shooting outside a Walmart in Mississippi.

Van Turner, who is representing Wiley’s family alongside prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said police bodycam footage from Sunday’s incident in Senatobia will ultimately vindicate Kohen’s mother and a friend who fled the store in a vehicle along with the youngster following a report of shoplifting.

“What you're going to see is this vehicle was not a threat and that that was excessive force,” Turner told Newsweek on Friday regarding the officer who fired the shot that killed Wiley. “The threat is neutralized, and you're still using your firearms, and they're trying to drive away from you? That's the very definition of excessive force. We're demanding transparency, and we hope we get it.”

An investigation into the police-involved shooting is being conducted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. The probe was ongoing on Thursday, the agency confirmed.

“We will not offer any further comment at this time,” MBI spokesman Bailey Martin wrote Newsweek.

A records request filed Thursday by Newsweek for a copy of bodycam footage from the officer who fired the fatal shot was denied due to the ongoing investigation.

Turner said he had not seen the bodycam footage as of Friday, but noted that Senatobia Police were quick to release video from a separate incident involving a police officer and a woman at the same Walmart in May 2025. The agency could expedite the release of the video to counter the allegations of excessive force, Turner said.

“They need to release it,” he said.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Sunday that officers from the Senatobia Police Department and Tate County Sheriff's Office responded to the Walmart on U.S. 51 in response to a shoplifting call and encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle.

As police tried to stop the vehicle, the driver drove toward them and almost hit an officer, according to the bureau. An officer then shot at the vehicle, which drove off. The two women proceeded to drive to a hospital, where Wiley was pronounced dead.

No law enforcement officers were seriously injured, the bureau said.

Wiley’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, wasn’t hurt, but her friend was seriously injured, according to Marquell Bridges, president of an advocacy group that’s leading protests following the deadly police-involved shooting.

The officer who fired at the vehicle has not been identified, but has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard practice following officer-involved shootings.

Vellesiya Wiley, meanwhile, said in a video posted on social media on Wednesday that she was leaving Walmart with her son when her friend was stopped by police.

“I kept walking because it had nothing to do with me,” she said.

Her friend then got into the vehicle and began to drive in reverse, adding that when police officers drew their guns, she lifted up her son “to show them that he was in the car,” she recalled.

“By the time I sat my baby back down, it was like three or four shots,” she said. “One of the shots hit him in his rib cage.”

Kohen Wiley’s great-grandmother, Carolyn Stokes, 72, told Newsweek she also believes the shooting wasn’t justified.

“It was unnecessary to be firing into a car,” Stokes said. “Why did you draw your weapon on people that were potential shoplifters? Why did you not go into the store? Because they were rushing from the store? They could’ve just been in a hurry.”

Stokes accused the officer of acting impulsively while responding to the incident.

“It was just reckless, crazy,” Stokes said Wednesday. “I might as well say he had killing on his mind. I’m not a psychiatrist or anything like that, but it’s weird and crazy…God has the last say; he will bring this all to the forefront in due time.”

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 3:01 PM.