JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Authorities in Mississippi are investigating a law enforcement shooting this past weekend that left a 1-year-old toddler dead and an adult seriously injured. The shooting took place in the parking lot of a Walmart in Senatobia in northern Mississippi. That's about 40 minutes south of Memphis. Elise Gregg of Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Gulf States Newsroom has been following the story and joins us now. Hi there.
ELISE GREGG, BYLINE: Hi there.
SUMMERS: So, Elise, we know that a 1-year-old was fatally shot. Are there any more specific details you can tell us about what happened there?
GREGG: Yes. So authorities haven't released many details, but here's what we know so far. On Sunday, 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was shot and killed by police in Senatobia. And the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said that police and county deputy sheriffs were responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart when they encountered two adults and the child in the parking lot. MBI said those two adults got into a car with Wiley, and their statement claims that the driver drove towards officers. One of the police officers then fired on the car, hitting and ultimately killing Wiley. One of the adults in the car - a family friend - was critically wounded.
SUMMERS: And I understand that there is now a criminal investigation underway. What can you tell us about that?
GREGG: Yeah. So I spoke with the state public safety commissioner, Sean Tindell, who indicated that the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave.
SEAN TINDELL: At this point, we're still gathering evidence from Walmart and body cams and dashcam footage if they're available, as well as getting statements from the officers that are involved with the situation.
GREGG: And they'll hand that evidence off to the attorney general, but Tindell says they're not planning on making any of that public until their investigation is concluded, which he says could take up to six to nine months.
SUMMERS: And what's been the response from the community there?
GREGG: As you can imagine, people are really upset. On Tuesday night, family and community gathered outside the Walmart, and police ended up using tear gas on the crowd in the parking lot. Tindell said highway patrol special operations were present and that tear gas was deployed after someone threw a water bottle at an officer.
SUMMERS: Now, we know that videotape has often played a role in these types of situations. Is that a factor here?
GREGG: Yes. So there are calls to release footage from the investigation sooner because the account from MBI doesn't line up with what Wiley's mother, who was in the car, says happened. Here's Memphis civil rights attorney Van Turner, who is representing the family along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
VAN TURNER: The mother has put out a statement that they were actually backing up, and when they hit this car in reverse, that's when the officers started shooting, not when they were even going forward. And at the time, she was holding the baby up and attempting to get out the car to surrender.
GREGG: There's also been a clip circulating online that doesn't quite match the official account either. It's fairly brief, but it shows officers surrounding the car from the side and behind. Part of the car is obscured in the clip, though, so it's hard to get the full picture. And Attorney Van Turner says they're hoping to get details from the investigation a lot sooner than Public Safety Commissioner Tindell's estimated time frame.
TURNER: We would just hope that the video is released, that there is no cover-up, that the facts come out, and that we have justice for this 1-year-old child whose life was just cut short.
SUMMERS: And Elise, this family - what is next for them?
GREGG: So Turner said, at this point, the family is preparing to bury Wiley and just sorting through funeral arrangements. He and Tindell said that the family have been contacted by MBI as part of the investigation, but Turner said they'll speak with investigators following Wiley's burial.
SUMMERS: Elise Gregg with Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Gulf States Newsroom. Thank you.
GREGG: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
