Mississippi's attorney general determined that a police officer was justified in using deadly force when he fired into a vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call, killing a 1-year-old boy whose death sparked protests and drew national attention.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office announced on Oct. 19 that it had completed its review of the June 14 shooting, which occurred after officers responded to a report of shoplifting at a Walmart in Senatobia, a north Mississippi city about 40 miles south of Memphis. The toddler, identified as Kohen Wiley, was sitting in his mother's car when an officer opened fire on the vehicle, according to the family's attorneys.
"Today, the Office of the Attorney General announced it has completed the review
of a June 14, 2026 incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department," the agency said in a statement. "In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified."
The review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, according to the attorney general's office. The finding means the officer who fired into the vehicle will not face criminal charges in connection with the death of Wiley.
The shooting sparked several demonstrations in Senatobia, where community members and civil rights advocates demanded accountability and the arrest of the officer who killed Wiley. The child’s family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, has repeatedly questioned officers' account of the incident and called for greater transparency throughout the investigation.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump condemns findings
Following the announcement on Oct. 19, Crump renewed demands for authorities to release body-camera, dash-camera and surveillance footage from the shooting.
"A 1-year-old baby was shot and killed by a police officer, and now the state of Mississippi says that use of force was justified," Crump said in a statement. "How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen’s family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?"
Crump also cited broader concerns about the Senatobia Police Department, noting that the city’s police chief was fired earlier this year after reports surfaced about racist text messages. He further pointed to an internal complaint alleging that the officer who fatally shot Wiley had made a racially offensive remark to a Black officer days before the shooting.
The Senatobia Board of Aldermen unanimously fired former Police Chief Harold "Hal" Vanderford in September after reporting from Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed that he repeatedly used racial slurs about Black people in private messages.
Crump said records from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation identified the officer involved in the fatal shooting as Senatobia Police Sgt. Hunter Foster. Foster was placed on administrative leave after the shooting, according to city officials.
It was not immediately clear on Oct. 19 whether he remained employed by the department.
What happened to Kohen Wiley?
State investigators said officers from the Senatobia Police Department and Tate County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported shoplifting incident at a Walmart in Senatobia on June 14. Upon arrival, officers saw two people and a child allegedly fleeing from the store into a vehicle.
Officers tried to stop the vehicle as the driver allegedly drove toward them, according to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. One officer shot into the vehicle as it fled the scene, and the bullet fatally struck the child, who was not in a car seat.
The people in the vehicle then arrived at a local hospital, where Wiley was pronounced dead, and the other injured person was treated. No law enforcement officers were injured, authorities said.
Wiley was sitting in his mother's car when an officer opened fire on it, Crump said in a statement June 16. He said Wiley's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was trying to notify officers that the child was in the car before the shooting.
The child's mother has disputed officers' account. She previously said she was in the vehicle with her son and a friend when officers approached with guns drawn. She said she lifted her son to show officers that a child was in the vehicle and shots were fired moments later.
"By the time I sat my baby down, it was like three to four shots," she said in a video shared with USA TODAY by Crump's office. "One of the shots hit him in his rib cage. And the other shots hit her in her arm and her thigh."
Authorities have said the friend was suspected of shoplifting diapers. The woman who was wounded has not been charged with a crime.
Independent autopsy fueled questions over fatal shooting
Questions about the shooting intensified after attorneys for the family released preliminary findings from an independent autopsy on July 1. Crump said the examination concluded that Wiley died from a gunshot wound to the torso.
The autopsy also found that a gunshot wound entered Wiley on the right side of his chest and exited on the left side of his chest, according to Crump. The autopsy concluded the manner of death was homicide.
The family's attorneys argued those findings were inconsistent with claims that officers fired as a vehicle drove toward them. During a news conference, Crump displayed photographs showing damage to the passenger side of the vehicle and a bullet hole in the windshield.
"How are you going to fear for your life when you’re shooting from the side?" Crump asked at the time.
Contributing: Brooke Muckerman and Jack Armstrong, USA TODAY Network
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mississippi AG says officer justified in shooting that killed 1-year-old
