JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The parents of a 1-year-old boy who was shot and killed by a police officer in Mississippi led a protest Monday at the office of the state's attorney general, who ruled last month that the shooting was justified.
Cries of “our baby’s life mattered” echoed through the office's lobby as Kohen Wiley's parents and a small group of activists demanded to speak to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch.
Marquell Bridges, an activist
who has been working with Kohen’s parents, said they wanted Fitch to look Kohen’s parents in the eyes and tell them why the shooting was justified.
“These people work for us. We pay their salaries. We vote. We put them in office, and our people have to understand that we have the power,” he said.
They were met in the lobby by Fitch’s chief of staff, who said Fitch was not in the office. An email seeking comment was sent to the attorney general's office Monday.
Kohen Wiley was killed in June when a police officer in the small town of Senatobia about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee, fired his gun into a moving vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call.
Body-worn cameras show Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, holding Kohen as she and a friend run across the parking lot of a Senatobia Walmart and enter their vehicle. Wiley and the friend, who was driving, are Black.
Five officers approach the parked car with guns drawn. The car reverses away and crashes into a parked vehicle nearby as officers yell for it to stop.
The vehicle then accelerates forward as Senatobia Sgt. Hunter Foster steps toward it, directly in front, with his gun drawn. The wheels turn away from him, and he appears to put his hands on the hood as he jumps out of the way. He fires his gun, shattering the window of the front passenger side, where Kohen was seated on his mother’s lap.
The shooting sparked months of mourning and calls for justice, both nationally and in Senatobia.
Kohen would have turned 2 on Sunday.
Sitting outside the attorney general’s office, Kohen’s father, Davion Williams, said the passing of Kohen’s birthday was “the worst feeling ever.”
“It’s hard. It’s just hard to even express and talk about,” said Williams. “Now we have to keep his name alive.”
Williams said he wants Foster prosecuted and Fitch out of office. He wore a t-shirt with Kohen’s face that read “Kohen should be 2. Vote in his honor.”
Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, has said his client had “no choice” but to shoot at the vehicle because it was going to hit him. The Mississippi Attorney General’s office said its monthslong probe found that Foster’s use of force was appropriate.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, meanwhile, was investigating an arson fire on Saturday that damaged the Senatobia police building. It was unclear what caused the fire. Emails to the ATF and the state fire marshal's office Monday were not immediately returned.
