Twin Cities Demand Justice For Kohen Wiley Killing

Black women lead protest in Minneapolis after Mississippi declined to press charges on police who fatally shot one-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot. The post Twin Cities Demand Justice Fo

St. Paul, MN – When one-year-old Kohen Wiley was shot by police in Mississippi this summer, residents in the Twin Cities felt the pain of a life lost to police violence. In late October, when the body-worn camera footage of the shooting was released and the officer’s use of force ruled justified, they knew they needed to respond.

So on Oct. 25, local Black women, many of whom have experienced losing a loved one to police violence themselves, rallied residents to show up and march in hopes of raising awareness and demanding accountability for the one-year-old infant shot by police in June.

The march was spurred by the Mississippi Attorney General ruling that the officer who fired the shots that killed Wiley and struck another woman in the car, was justified in using deadly force. Protests have taken place across the country, including last month’s march in St. Paul.

On October 25, a crowd gathered in front of the Governor’s mansion where speakers addressed attendees. Though Wiley was killed in Mississippi, organizers saw a direct connection to his killing and the many police shootings that have burdened their community.

“When a murder happens to any one of us, it happens to all of us,” Toshira Garraway Allen, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, told the crowd.

Garraway, whose work centers around supporting families who have lost loved ones at the hands of the police, drove that point home. The burden, she said, of demanding justice and picking up the pieces after police kill or jail a loved one falls largely on the shoulders of the Black women who raised and cared for the victims.

“It’s Black women that are standing up and fighting these injustices,” Garraway said.

The Oct. 25 march embodied that. After listening to several Black women speak about their experiences of losing family members and seeking justice in the aftermath, the crowd marched in the street to the Center for Black Empowerment and rallied to demand justice for Wiley.

On June 18, police in Senatobia, Mississippi responded to a report of shoplifting at a local Walmart. Among the responding officers was Sergeant Hunter Foster.

Body-worn camera footage from that day shows a group of police gathered in an office at the Walmart talking with an employee. After seeing people on a surveillance camera leaving the store’s front doors, the police rushed out of the office and pursued the Wiley family across the parking lot.

Moments later, police confronted the family in their car. After the driver backed up into another car, they pulled forward toward the police. That’s when Foster fired through the car’s window, hitting and killing one-year-old infant Kohen Wiley.

Foster and the city’s interim police chief have both resigned following the shooting.

After the state investigated the shooting, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch stated the use of force that resulted in Wiley’s killing was justified as the car had been driven toward officers.

But critics point out that Hunter shot through the passenger window of the sedan, refuting the claim that he was at risk of being hit by the car.

Cover image and march image are screengrabs from video contributed by L. Cam Anderson.

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