A Mississippi police officer who shot and killed a 1-year-old boy during an encounter outside a retail store has resigned, municipal authorities confirmed.
Hunter Foster, a sergeant with the Senatobia Police Department, stepped down after town officials accepted his resignation on Oct. 21, Mayor Greg Graves told reporters. The move came only days after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office concluded an inquiry by ruling that Foster’s discharge of his firearm was justified and announcing that no criminal charges would be pursued.
Encounter in a Walmart Parking Lot
The deadly confrontation took place on June 14 outside a Walmart in Senatobia, a city roughly 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. According to reports from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, officers were initially on the premises handling an unrelated case when a store worker alerted them that suspected shoplifters were running toward the parking lot.
Video recordings from multiple police body cameras released to the public show two women running to a parked vehicle while one carried a baby, identified as 1-year-old Kohen Wiley. Five officers converged on the automobile with handguns drawn. The car reversed, collided with an adjacent parked vehicle, and then accelerated forward as Foster moved into its path.
In the footage, the car’s front wheels turn away from Foster as he jumps aside with his hands near the hood. Foster fired his weapon into the vehicle, shattering the glass of the front passenger window where Kohen sat on his mother’s lap. Kohen died from gunshot wounds, and the adult driver suffered critical injuries.
Martin Zummach, an attorney representing Foster, said in a statement to news outlets that the officer stepped down to help the city heal. Zummach insisted that Foster feared for his life as the vehicle advanced toward him and had no knowledge that an infant was inside the car.
Family Disputes Official Account
The child’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has denied that she or her friend stole diapers from the retailer. Court records indicate neither woman has been charged with theft. Wiley stated previously that she held her son up inside the car to alert approaching police that a toddler was present.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Wiley family, called the shooting excessive and condemned the state’s decision not to indict the former officer. Crump pointed to video footage and an independent autopsy indicating the fatal projectile entered through the side passenger window rather than through the front windshield, challenging claims of imminent vehicular harm.
“Turning in a badge does not erase responsibility for taking a life, and it will not end our fight for justice for Kohen and his family,” Crump said in a statement.
The boy would have marked his second birthday on Nov. 1.
Calls for Decertification and Federal Review
Attorneys for the family have formally requested an independent review by the U.S. Department of Justice. They are also demanding state regulators decertify Foster so he cannot serve as a law enforcement officer in other jurisdictions. Alex Gibert, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told reporters that Foster currently remains certified.
Records obtained by news agencies show Foster was previously employed by police agencies in Southaven and DeSoto County before joining Senatobia. During his tenure in Southaven, he was named among defendants in a 2019 federal civil rights lawsuit that the municipality settled in 2022 without admitting liability.
Municipal leadership in Senatobia has experienced further turmoil following the incident. Interim Police Chief Angelica Maze recently resigned her leadership role and returned to her prior municipal rank, with town leaders naming LaMorris Hampton as the new interim chief, Graves told ABC News. Federal authorities have not announced whether they will launch a civil rights investigation into the shooting.
