Mississippi AG Finds Cop Justified in Killing Baby During Walmart Shoplifting Stop

The Mississippi Attorney General's office has determined that the use of force by a Senatobia police sergeant was justified in the fatal shooting of a one-year-old boy earlier this year. The incident occurred on June 14, when Senatobia Police Sergeant Hunter Foster fired at the car of Vellesiya Wiley, the mother of Kohen Wiley, who was one year old. The shooting took place outside a Walmart store as officers were responding to an alleged shoplifting attempt.

According to a statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation released shortly after the shooting, officers attempted to stop Wiley's vehicle as she and a friend, who was driving, were leaving the store, reportedly with stolen diapers and baby clothes. The statement indicated that the car drove toward law enforcement, prompting an officer to fire into the car, striking Kohen Wiley and the friend driving the vehicle.

Kohen Wiley was fatally shot in the ribcage and later pronounced dead at a local hospital. His mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has disputed the official account. In a video released days after the shooting, she denied that she or her friend had stolen anything and stated that the car was not heading toward the officers. She also claimed that she had held her baby up in the air to show the officers he was in the car before the shooting.

Ben Crump, an attorney representing Kohen's family, has raised concerns and called for the release of body-camera footage from the incident. Crump stated that the family and the public have not been allowed to see the footage and that if it supports the state's decision, it should be released. He also noted that preliminary autopsy results indicate Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front, which contradicts the officers' claims.

Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office announced this month that its review of the incident found the use of force to be justified, though the statement did not provide further reasoning. Crump also alleged that Sergeant Foster had faced a complaint about a racially offensive remark two days prior to the shooting.

This incident is the latest in a series of events that have heightened tensions between the Senatobia Police Department and the city's Black residents. In the past, a Senatobia officer reportedly threatened a Black woman with a Taser and arrested her during a dispute over a parking space in the same Walmart parking lot. Additionally, two years prior, a Senatobia police officer was fired for arresting a 10-year-old Black child for urinating in public.