A protest against police was broken up with tear gas over the lethal police shooting of a 1-year-old baby at a Walmart in Mississippi on Sunday.
Police said the driver was trying to run over officers who were investigating an alleged shoplifting incident at the store in Senatobia.
‘By the time I set my baby down, it was like three to four shots. … One of the shots hit him in his rib cage, and the other shots hit her in her arm and her thigh.’
Benjamin Crump, the attorney known for taking cases lauded by Black Lives Matter, released a statement criticizing police.
“A 1-year-old child is dead after police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a vehicle in a crowded Walmart parking lot in Senatobia,” he wrote.
“His mother, who has not been charged with any crime, says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car,” he added. “They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent 1-year-old. We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation released a statement about the events that led to the shooting incident.
Law enforcement officers were responding to a shoplifting call when they encountered two subjects and a juvenile fleeing from the store and into a vehicle, according to MBI.
“Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one,” the MBI continued. “An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene. The subjects arrived at a local hospital where one juvenile child in the vehicle was pronounced deceased, and another subject had critical injuries.”
The agency said it would continue the investigation into the incident and share its findings with the attorney general’s office.
The Senatobia police indicated that the shooting officer was placed on administrative leave and added that the office was dedicated to “full transparency” in the case.
Crump identified the mother involved as Vellesiya Wiley and said they had gone to Walmart for diapers. Wiley claims her friend had been stopped, but she kept walking because “it had nothing to do with me.”
She said she had gotten to the car with her baby when her friend got inside. They encountered police, and Wiley described her response to the officers.
“I raised my baby up trying to show them that he was in the car,” she said.
She said her friend hit another car while Wiley’s door was opened, and then she heard gunfire from police.
“By the time I set my baby down, it was like three to four shots,” she said.
“One of the shots hit him in his rib cage, and the other shots hit her in her arm and her thigh,” she added.
She also denied that her friend tried to run over police.
“They was all on the right side, and she was driving towards the left,” she claimed.
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Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said that police body camera footage would not be released until after the investigation was completed and the results were presented to the attorney general’s office.
On Tuesday, community activists protested outside the store, and the Walmart closed down temporarily. Police responded by deploying tear gas to break up the demonstration.
“The only violence came from the police department when they decided to tear-gas peaceful protesters,” protest organizer Marquell Bridges said.
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