Senatobia, Miss. — Demonstrators marched through the north Mississippi town on Friday, June 26, to support the family of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley and to demand accountability after the child was killed in a police shooting, Mississippi Department of Public Safety officials said.
The Department of Public Safety said a police officer responding to a shoplifting call on June 14 shot at a car that drove in the officer’s direction, killing Kohen, according to a department statement reported by Mississippi Today.
Despite a heat index near 95 degrees, the National Weather Service said, marchers walked through the town with raised fists and chanted for justice, Mississippi Today reported. Family members and supporters gathered with Kohen’s father in the Walmart parking lot before the march, the news outlet said.
Organizers and participants included Porchse Miller of Black Lives Matter Grassroots East Atlanta DeKalb, Marquell Bridges, president of Building Bridges Coalition, and Baba Akili of Black Lives Matter, Mississippi Today reported. The outlet’s photographer also documented marchers holding signs, a memorial at the Walmart and interactions between police and demonstrators.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety account of the June 14 shooting and coverage of Friday’s march were reported by Mississippi Today. The National Weather Service provided the heat index information.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
