Video footage of Kohen Wiley shooting released after toddler’s death deemed ‘justified’ | Mississippi

Since Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced Monday that the police shooting of 1-year-old baby Kohen Wiley “was justified,” footage of the shooting has been released to the public. This was first reported by Darkhorse Press, a Mississippi media outlet.

On Thursday, attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner, who represent the Wiley family, held a news conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ in Senatobia, Mississippi. The news conference took place shortly after family members were shown footage of the shooting.

“The word ‘justified’ has haunted me since Monday,” Veronica Roberson, Kohen’s maternal grandmother, said at the news conference. She held back tears as she spoke. “I went to work and had to check with news sources… no one contacted the family. One call, one warning, anything to prepare us for what we were going to face.”

Roberson said videos of the shooting leaked by several media outlets were “slaps in the face.” In the footage, she said, five police officers, guns drawn, descended on a car with two women, Vellesiya Wiley, the baby’s mother, Latoya Ferrell, a friend, and Kohen Wiley.

Crump called the footage “excessive from the start” and said officers approached the women and baby with guns drawn. According to initial reports, officers were responding to a shoplifting call. Wiley and Ferrell allegedly stole a package of diapers.

“We are the most prosperous nation in the world and we are going to shoot guns at people over allegations of crimes involving baby diapers?” Crump said.

Crump noted that neither woman had ever been arrested for shoplifting. Even if they had, shoplifting is a crime that does not carry the death penalty, he said.

“After what I saw today, I have a hard time understanding the word ‘justified,'” said Lasandra Williams, Kohen’s paternal grandmother. “I don’t understand how it’s okay for someone to take a sweet, innocent soul – God knows I miss him so much.”

Crump and Turner were joined by Kohen’s two grandmothers, his father and representatives from the Senatobia Committee for Accountability and Building Bridges Coalition, local civil rights organizations. Crump said the footage will be officially released later this afternoon by investigators.

Turner and Crump call for federal investigation into shooting.

Next Sunday, November 1, would be Wiley’s second birthday.