The legal team for the family of a 1-year-old who was fatally shot as police in Mississippi responded to a shoplifting call at a Walmart said Wednesday that a preliminary autopsy indicated that the bullet that hit him entered through the car’s side, raising new questions about whether the shooting was justified.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner, who are representing the family of Kohen Wiley, shared preliminary findings from an independent autopsy completed at the family’s request at a news conference in the north Mississippi community of Senatobia, about 40 miles south of Memphis.
Crump said District of Columbia-based forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell determined that Kohen died from a gunshot wound to the torso.
The details were shared with reporters Wednesday at the West Gilmore St. Church of Christ in Senatobia, where Kohen’s visitation took place just days earlier. As Crump walked through Mitchell’s report, the 1-year-old’s paternal grandparents held signs with a picture of the child and the message “Justice for Baby Kohen” and became emotional, wiping their eyes.
Few details have been released in the two weeks since the June 14 shooting. State authorities have said that police were responding to a shoplifting call at a Walmart when an officer fired at the car Kohen was in.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has said the shooting unfolded when responding officers arriving at the Walmart saw “two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle.”
Kohen’s mother was a passenger in the car her friend was driving. Authorities said the officer fired after the driver drove toward police. Kohen’s mother has disputed that account. Authorities said the driver was also injured in the shooting.
Crump said the pathologist noted injury patterns on Kohen’s body caused by debris in the bullet’s wake and displayed a picture showing several abrasions on the child’s right torso.
Based on the autopsy findings, Crump said those abrasions were consistent with pseudo-stippling caused by tempered glass, believed to be from the right-side passenger window.
A picture of a vehicle where the passenger window appeared to be shattered was displayed during Crump’s remarks. The photograph also showed damage and an apparent bullet hole in the windshield on the passenger side.
Crump said the autopsy showed Kohen’s injuries from the fragments were consistent with tempered glass that would come from a side window as opposed to the laminated windshield.
Based on the autopsy, Crump said, “This police is shooting from the side. You can’t get that shot from the front. Why would you shoot into a vehicle from the side where you’re clearly not in harm’s way?”
Citing an “ongoing investigation,” a spokesperson for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation did not answer NBC News’ questions about whether the agency had reached the same determination about where the shot was fired from.
Crump continues to push for transparency and on Wednesday called on authorities and Walmart to release any footage from the response.
He said authorities wanted the public to believe it was “a life-or-death situation.”
“They told us that, but they have not shown us that, and so we’re here fighting for transparency,” he said. “We don’t need you to narrate it for us.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has said it will not release footage of the police response until its investigation is complete.
A lieutenant at the Senatobia Police Department referred questions to state authorities.
Local and state officials have not identified the officer who opened fire. The city’s police department previously said the officer was placed on leave.
Some in Senatobia have expressed frustration with the pace of the review and limited remarks by city officials.
Patrick Lumumba, who raised concerns about the city’s police force prior to the fatal shooting, said a group called the Senatobia Committee for Accountability and Transparency wanted to be placed on the agenda to speak at the next city council meeting.
“There’s righteous indignation because we’re not going to lose this one,” he said.
