SENATOBIA, Miss. — The fatal shooting of a 1-year-old boy by a police officer responding to a reported shoplifting incident was a justified use of force, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced Monday.
The brief statement from Fitch concluded a four-month review into the June 14 death of Kohen Wiley. The toddler was sitting in his mother’s lap inside a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, roughly 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, when an officer opened fire.
“In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified,” the office said, noting that the inquiry followed a probe conducted by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Disputed accounts of the shooting
Police were initially dispatched to the retail store over an alleged shoplifting incident involving diapers and baby clothes, news outlets reported. State investigators said officers arrived and observed two adults and a child leaving the store and getting into an automobile. According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, the driver moved toward officers and nearly struck one, prompting an officer to discharge a firearm.
The gunfire fatally struck the infant and wounded the driver, identified as Latoya Ferrell. Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was riding as a passenger and was not injured. Neither woman has been charged with a crime, and authorities have not made public any evidence of shoplifting, according to The Guardian and the Mississippi Free Press.
The child’s mother has repeatedly disputed the official narrative. In a video released after the encounter, she stated that she held the infant up toward the window to show officers a child was inside. She also said the driver was attempting to steer away from officers rather than toward them when the vehicle struck another car.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family alongside attorney Van Turner, said a preliminary independent autopsy indicated the gunfire entered through the side of the car, contradicting claims that the automobile was traveling directly toward police. Following Monday’s announcement, Crump urged authorities to make all video records public.
“If the footage supports the state’s decision, release it. We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.”
History of racial tension in Senatobia
Records identified the officer involved in the shooting as Sgt. Hunter Foster, who is white, according to The Guardian and the Mississippi Free Press. The child and both adult women in the car are Black. Town demographic figures show Senatobia is approximately 40 percent Black, The Guardian reported.
The killing of Kohen Wiley follows several controversial police interactions that have shaken the community:
- In 2023, the department faced nationwide scrutiny after an officer arrested a 10-year-old Black child for urinating in public, leading to the child being placed in a cell and given three months of probation.
- Last year, an officer deployed a Taser threat and pulled a Black woman from her car in the same Walmart parking lot over a dispute regarding an accessible parking spot, ABC News reported.
- Last month, Senatobia aldermen dismissed Police Chief Harold Vanderford after news reports revealed he used racist slurs in private messages. Angelica Maze was later named police chief.
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety told the Mississippi Free Press that surveillance and body camera recordings would soon be provided through public records requests. It remains unclear when those files will be released to the public or whether federal authorities will examine the case.
