Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images News / Getty Images
A preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by the family of Kohen Wiley has found his death to be a homicide, and its findings are raising new questions about the official account of what happened in a Mississippi Walmart parking lot two weeks ago.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump presented the preliminary findings Wednesday (July 1) at a press conference at Senatobia Church of Christ, surrounded by Kohen's grandparents and community members holding "Justice for Baby Kohen" signs.
According to the Associated Press, the autopsy, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell, preliminarily determined that the shot that killed Kohen entered the right side of his torso and exited the left — consistent, according to Crump, with a shot fired from the side of the vehicle, not the front.
That finding, as Crump presented it, directly challenges the account given by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which said officers fired after the car's driver "drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one."
Crump argued the autopsy findings, combined with the vehicle's damage, support the family's account of what happened. Photo evidence displayed at the press conference showed the car's passenger-side window was shattered, and an apparent bullet hole was visible in the passenger-side windshield, per NBC News.
A policing expert cited by the AP cautioned, however, that wound evidence alone is not enough to draw firm conclusions without also examining the vehicle's damage and the positions of everyone involved.
Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has said she was holding her son in the front passenger seat and that the car was backing away from officers, not toward them.
"Why would you shoot into a vehicle from the side when you're clearly not in harm's way?" Crump said. He added: "They told us that [it was a life-or-death situation], but they have not shown us that."
Crump, joined by co-counsel Van Turner, also emphasized that officers' own report confirmed they saw two women and a child get into the vehicle before the shot was fired. "We have been demanding transparency so we can get to the truth as to why a Senatobia police officer felt the need to shoot inside of a moving vehicle that he knew had two adults and an infant child," Crump told reporters.
Crump was careful to note that the preliminary findings are limited. The pathologist did not have access to complete information, including the still-unreleased body camera footage, dashcam video, or Walmart surveillance video — all of which Crump has demanded be made public.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the inquiry, told the family the investigation could take six to nine months, according to Action News 5.
Crump said that timeline is unacceptable and is calling for the investigation to be completed within six to nine weeks.
Kohen's mother did not attend Wednesday's press conference. Crump said it would be a "painful reminder" of the loss of her only child.
The shooting took place on June 14 in the parking lot of a Senatobia Walmart, where police were responding to a report of shoplifting — allegedly involving diapers. Kohen's mother has said she believed her friend had paid for the items. One community activist at Wednesday's press conference called the killing "our generation's Emmett Till moment," per Mississippi Today.
The officer who fired the fatal shot has not been publicly identified. The Senatobia Police Department has confirmed the officer was placed on administrative leave. The MBI declined to comment Wednesday. Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz confirmed the official autopsy report is not yet complete.
Kohen Wiley was 1 year old.
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