CHICAGO URBAN DAILY
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— The message from Amir Shakur and Samaria Rice to the City of Senatobia is simple, and it comes with a deadline: you have seven days to release the video. One day after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch declared the police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley “justified,” Shakur and Rice — joined by Rodney Floyd, brother of George Floyd and Chairman of the Justice for George Floyd Committee, The Tamir Rice Foundation, and Freedom First International — filed an expedited media public records request demanding the release of ALL body-worn camera, dashboard camera, and surveillance footage from the June 14, 2026 shooting, so the public can see for itself what happened and a real investigation can begin.
Here’s what the state wants you to accept on faith. On June 14, Senatobia police answered a shoplifting call at a Walmart — a call alleging a pack of diapers had been taken. Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell left the store with the baby, got into their car, and began to leave. Officers drew their weapons. By the family’s account, the mother lifted her son up to show the officers a child was in that car. An officer fired into the vehicle anyway. Kohen, one year old, was killed in his mother’s arms. Ferrell was wounded. Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other crime.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation says the car drove toward officers. The mother says that’s not true. And here is the part that should outrage every American: to this day, the state has released NONE of the video — not the bodycam, not the dashcam, not the Walmart parking lot surveillance that would settle the question in seconds.
So the coalition’s request goes straight at the evidence: every camera angle, the 911 calls, the radio transmissions, the incident reports, the use-of-force records. And it carries a formal spoliation warning — a legal notice ordering the City of Senatobia, its police department, the MBI, and the Attorney General’s office to preserve every file, every audit trail, every byte of metadata. Do not delete. Do not overwrite. Do not “rotate” anything into oblivion.
Mississippi law, Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-5, gives the agencies seven working days to respond. The deadline is October 29, 2026.
Samaria Rice knows exactly what it means when officials ask a grieving family to wait and trust. She has lived it since 2014, when Cleveland police killed her 12-year-old son, Tamir. Now she stands with Kohen’s family, making the same demand she has made for over a decade: show the people what happened.
And Rodney Floyd knows that same road. His brother, George Floyd, was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020, and as Chairman of the Justice for George Floyd Committee he has carried the demand for accountability across this country ever since. Now the Floyd family stands with Kohen’s family in Senatobia — two families, one demand: release the footage.
The Attorney General has closed her review. But a ruling without the video is just a press release. The tape exists. The law is clear. Release it.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily News as this story develops. Media and community tips on this case: amirshakurspeaks@gmail.com.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
