Hundreds of family members, friends, and community members, dressed in different shades of blue, filled Hosanna Family Worship Center in Pope, Mississippi, on Saturday to honor the life of Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old who was just weeks away from his second birthday before he was killed earlier this month.
As mourners gathered to remember the young life cut tragically short, they also grieved a death that has sparked growing calls for answers, accountability, and justice across Mississippi and beyond.
“Today, we celebrate his precious soul,” Van Turner, a Memphis-based civil rights attorney representing the family, said during the service, according to NBC News. “On tomorrow and the next day, we’re going to shout ‘Justice for Baby Kohen. Justice for Baby Kohen.’”
On June 14, Kohen was shot and killed when a Senatobia police officer opened fire on a vehicle he was riding in while responding to a shoplifting call at a local Walmart. Authorities said the driver nearly struck an officer, prompting the officer to open fire. Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has said she was a passenger in the vehicle and that the driver, a friend who has not been publicly identified, was not trying to hit anyone as she attempted to drive away. The family has also said the incident was sparked over an alleged stolen pack of diapers. The investigating agency said the driver was critically injured in the shooting. The officer who fired the shots, who has since been placed on administrative leave, has also not been publicly identified.
The shooting has drawn national attention and intensified calls for transparency, accountability, and justice as the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation continues to examine the incident and Kohen’s family searches for answers.
“There is nothing in that Walmart store that is more precious than,” Turner told the crowd during a vigil Friday.
“He deserved to have a life full of love,” he continued. “He deserved to make his parents proud. He deserved more than to have his life taken on that day over some diapers.”
The days leading up to Kohen’s funeral were marked by renewed calls for and demonstrations demanding justice. On Thursday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is also representing the family, joined the growing public calls for the release of the full body camera footage from the shooting. Senatobia police have said they will not release the footage until the investigation is complete.
Even as those calls continue, Saturday’s service was devoted to celebrating the little boy so many say should still be here.
The service ended with roaring motorcycles leading the funeral procession as Kohen was taken to his final resting place. A team of young pallbearers, dressed in coordinating white and navy suits, carried his tiny “Bluey”-themed coffin to a horse-drawn carriage, per WDAM7.
