Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. Law enforcement officers used tear gas to disperse a crowd Tuesday in the north Mississippi city of Senatobia as people protested the police shooting Sunday that killed a 1-year-old boy and wounded an adult, ABC24 r eported. National civil rights attorney Ben Crump is part of the legal team representing the child’s family.  “A 1-year-old child is dead because police officers in Mississippi opened fire on a car in a crowded Walmart parking lot,” Crump said in a Tuesday statement. “ … We intend to seek justice for baby Kohen and the life that was stolen from him.” The toddler, Kohen Wiley, was in the car with his mother and a family friend in the parking lot of a Walmart in Senatobia. Police and Tate County sheriff’s deputies were responding to an alleged shoplifting, and they tried to stop the car. State officials said the driver drove in the officers’ direction and nearly hit one, leading an officer to fire at the car. Before the shooting, Kohen’s mother said she tried to tell officers that a child was in the car, according to Crump’s statement. Family members told local media that the woman and family friend did not shoplift and were buying diapers.  Kohen later died from his injuries at a local hospital, and the family friend was critically wounded. Local media also reported crowds gathered outside Senatobia City Hall as officials met. Hundreds of people gathered at the Walmart on Tuesday, and police deployed tear gas in the parking lot of the store. Crump is representing the family with Memphis civil rights attorney Van Turner.  On Monday, Tate County Sheriff Luke Shepherd declined to comment about the shooting.  WAPT reported on Tuesday the officer involved in the shooting was put on administrative leave. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which investigates all law enforcement shootings, will present findings to the attorney general’s office. From there, the attorney general’s office will review the officer’s use of force and present evidence to a local grand jury about potential criminal charges.  Crump has represented other Missisisppi residents, including the family of Demartravion “Trey” Reed, the 21-year-old Black man found hanging on Delta State University’s campus in September last year. Officials ruled his death a suicide, but questions from family, community members and beyond remained about whether there was any foul play.  Crump and attorney Vanessa Jones said in October they planned to launch an independent investigation. They have yet to reveal the results of the second autopsy, which was performed by Dr. Matthias I. Okoye. Crump has also represented Mississippi residents in law enforcement-related deaths, such as the family of Dexter Wade, who was hit by a cruiser driven by an off-duty Jackson police officer on Interstate 55 and whose body was buried in the Hinds County pauper grave for months before family learned he was there. Update, 6/16/2026: This story was updated to include media reports that law enforcement deployed tear gas on a crowd protesting at Walmart in Senatobia Tuesday evening. ...read more read less