JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by police who were responding to a shoplifting call this week has ignited simmering tensions between police and Black residents in the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi.

The death of Kohen Wiley is the latest in a series of troubling encounters with police that have outraged community members in recent years. It has led to protests and calls for greater police accountability in the town of 8,000, with some civil rights activists pointing to Kohen’s death as another example of a Black life lost over something of nominal value — in this case, allegedly stolen diapers.

“We are treating items on a shelf as more valuable than a child,” Bernice King, the daughter of civil right icon Martin Luther King, Jr., said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “That is not just bad policing; it is a moral collapse.”

Differing accounts of what happened

There are still many unanswered questions about the shooting and what led up to it.

Senatobia police responded to the shoplifting call at a local Walmart on Sunday, where they found two women and a child leaving the store, getting into a car and driving away. According to a statement released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”

Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said her son and her friend, who was driving, were hit by gunfire. In a video posted on social media Wednesday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Wiley said her friend was not driving toward the officers because they were “all on the right side and she was driving towards the left.”

She also disputes the shoplifting claim, saying in the video that she believes her friend paid for the diapers she was carrying.

Policing expert Ian Adams, who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said regardless of the circumstances, the officer should not have fired at the car.

“Modern policing knows that shooting into a moving vehicle is a very bad idea and one to be avoided at almost all costs,′ Adams said. For one thing, ”vehicles have other occupants, which is obviously a concern here in the current case.”

Shooting revives racial justice concerns

Kohen was Black, as are his mother and her friend, and the circumstances leading to Kohen’s death quickly drew comparisons to another Black mother shot during a response to a shoplifting accusation.

In 2023, Ta’Kiya Young, who was pregnant, was shot by police in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb, after they attempted to apprehend her. Police said Young, who was also the mother of two young sons, got into her car and accelerated in the direction of the officer who fired at her through the windshield. Both Young and her unborn daughter were killed.

The officer in that case was acquitted of criminal charges and found justified in his use of force by a review board.

The two deaths join a long list of other instances of Black Americans dying in interactions with police after accusations of petty criminal offenses. That list includes the murder of George Floyd in 2020, who was killed after police responded to a call that he used a fake $20 bill at a Minneapolis grocery store.

For some racial justice advocates, such cases serve as a constant reminder of the consequences of systemic racism in law enforcement.

“In the name of ‘law and order,’ a child was killed and family was shattered over items that could be restocked, written off, and replaced,” King wrote on Instagram. “Our charge is clear: until the sacredness of human life is the starting point of every police encounter, we must demand changes in training and work unrelentingly to reform policies around police accountability.”

Tensions in Senatobia

Marquell Bridges, the president and founder of an advocacy group called the Building Bridges Coalition and who has been helping the Wiley family, said Kohen’s death was “just the breaking point” after years of problematic interactions between Black residents and police.

Bridges pointed to an encounter last year in which an officer threatened Breshari Faulkner with a Taser, pulled her from her car onto the ground and arrested her during a confrontation over a handicapped parking space in the same Walmart lot where Kohen was shot.

Two years earlier, in 2023, a Senatobia officer was fired for his role in arresting a 10-year-old Black boy who had urinated in a different parking lot. The boy’s family settled a federal lawsuit with the city earlier this year.

“There is a culture there that they are above the law – just because they wear a uniform,” said civil rights attorney Carlos Moore, who has represented the 10-year-old boy and others accusing the department of misconduct.

Police did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. The mayor and city aldermen also did not respond to messages.

About 40% of the city’s population of approximately 8,300 is Black, according to 2020 Census data. Police did not respond to questions about the racial makeup of the department, but the mayor and a majority of the Board of Alderman members are white. The city has elected only three Black aldermen since it became a municipality in 1860, according to the Tate Record, a local newspaper.

A toy lawnmower that blows bubbles

The officer who shot Kohen and the woman driving the car he was in has been placed on administrative leave, a standard practice, while the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation looks into what happened. They have promised to release video of the shooting once the investigation is complete.

Kohen’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, was there when Kohen was born and babysat him often. She described him as a happy little baby with “the prettiest smile you could ever imagine.”

She said he was a sweet child and: “He just loved on me, and I loved on him. We loved each other.”

One of his favorite toys was a little lawnmower that would blow bubbles when pushed. Roberson would sit outside with him while he played with it. “He really thought he was mowing my yard,” she said, laughing a little at the memory. “That baby was my world.”

The video above is a live stream of WBTV and affiliated programming, and may not be directly related to the article below.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – A raccoon is fighting for its life after it got caught in a leg trap at a Mecklenburg County park this week.

North Carolina Wildlife Rehab said a group of children found the raccoon stuck in a leg trap at a Mecklenburg County park on Thursday, June 18, but did not specify which park.

“This is absurd, infuriating, and heartbreaking,” a spokesperson said. “Just think about how many animals may have already been harmed—and how many babies may have been orphaned because of this.”

Raccoon had heat stroke, front legs trapped

Wildlife Rehab said it’s unclear how long the raccoon was trapped, but both of his front legs were caught.

Thankfully, his legs were not broken; however, he suffered heat stroke and had a body temperature of 105.4 degrees.

“Please keep this sweet boy in your thoughts and prayers as he fights to recover,” a spokesperson said.

Multiple traps found on property

The children reportedly found the trap attached to a fence on an adjoining property, and investigators said officers found several more during their search.

“Thankfully, the kids did not attempt to free the raccoon themselves, though that easily could have happened,” a spokesperson said. “Instead, they immediately got their parents, who then contacted Animal Control.”

Officials said the raccoon was the second animal caught in a leg trap, and both incidents occurred at parks in Mecklenburg County.

Wildlife Rehab said the traps are illegal and cited animal cruelty. In North Carolina, however, foothold traps aren’t entirely illegal, but they’re strictly regulated by state law. They can be used in Mecklenburg County if they comply with state guidelines for trap size, jaw type, and proper tagging.

–> Also read: Trio stole donated blankets, beds from Cabarrus County animal shelter, director says

As of this writing, no arrests have been made, and no charges have been filed.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — As an Oklahoma utility company seeks a multimillion-dollar rate increase, two Oklahoma state representatives are asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to give customers a voice.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is currently deciding on a $29 million rate increase for Oklahoma Natural Gas.

If approved, officials say it would mark the fourth rate hike the OCC has approved for ONG in the last four years and has led to an $128 million increase in customer bills.

Rep. Tom Gann, R-Inola, and Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, have filed an appeal with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, saying customers weren’t given a chance to participate in the case.

“The OCC has gone completely off the beam,” ONG customers Gann and Kevin West told the Supreme Court in their June 17 petition.

In the filing, they claim that the OCC set a March 27 deadline to intervene in ONG’s rate case but only set it after the deadline had already passed.

They say ONG’s customers weren’t notified about the case until late April.

“This case was rigged from the start to keep ONG ratepayers out,” said Gann. “The federal courts have said utility customers have constitutional due process rights – including a right to timely and adequate notice about these cases. We are asking the Supreme Court to uphold customers’ rights and require the OCC to change its rules to respect them. ONG ratepayers should be allowed to exercise their right to participate without being muzzled.”

The commissioners are expected to make a final decision on the $29 million rate increase later this year.

ONG, the OCC, and the attorney general have 30 days to respond to Gann and Kevin West’s latest ONG appeal.