A Note to Readers: This article was first published on NewsOne, June 18, 2026.
A 1-year-old Black baby is dead in Mississippi.
His name was Kohen Wiley. Before he was shot, his mother lifted him up so police officers could see there was a child in the car. This mother’s desperate act was supposed to be proof of innocence, vulnerability, and a new life they were obligated not to destroy.
It didn’t matter.
They still fired.
Young Kohen was shot in his ribcage while his mother was holding him.
He was killed on Sunday after police in Senatobia responded to a reported shoplifting call at a Walmart. According to authorities, officers tried to stop a vehicle connected to the call. They claimed the driver moved toward them, and then one officer fired into the car. Kohen was later pronounced dead at a hospital, and another adult driving the car was critically wounded.
All this over a pack of diapers that cost roughly between $13 to $30. In America, apparently, this is the cheap price placed on a Black baby’s life. And already the usual chorus of racists who hate Black children because they are proof that slavery and Jim Crow didn’t win has gathered to explain why this baby’s life should be weighed against a pack of diapers.
Even that remains contested.
Across social media, users have disputed the police version, with some circulating claims that Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, had a receipt. The family and supporters are demanding that Walmart release surveillance footage and body camera footage, too.
They are right to demand it. Because in America, police narratives about Black people are too often treated as fact before the public ever sees the evidence. Not to mention, the long history of official misconduct, from false testimony to suppressed evidence to coercive tactics, has helped destroy Black lives for generations.
There is also a video circulating of Kohen’s mother giving her side of the story. She says she was not shoplifting, that she showed officers her baby, and she was not charged with any crime. So, before anybody starts erecting a gallows out of Walmart receipts and police statements, maybe we should ask why a baby is dead before the public has seen the evidence.
Continue reading on NewsOne.
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