Mississippi AG rules fatal police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley justified
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch ruled the June shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Walmart car park justified. No video has been released.
Attorney General declares Senatobia police shooting of infant justified
The police shooting that killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley — who was sitting in his mother's lap in a Walmart car park in Senatobia, Mississippi, on 14 June — "was justified," the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced on Monday, mississippifreepress.org reports.
"The Attorney General's Office found the use of force was justified," Fitch's office stated, adding that the review followed a formal investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, as required under Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code.
Officers responded to a shoplifting call over a pack of diapers
Officers arrived at the Walmart after a report that Wiley's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell had stolen a pack of diapers. The two women left the store with the child, got into their vehicle and began driving out of the car park. Officers drew their weapons. Vellesiya Wiley raised her son in the air, showing officers a child was in the car. One officer fired into the vehicle, killing the baby while she held him. A bullet also wounded Ferrell.
On the day of the shooting, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation stated that "the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one."
No surveillance footage made public
As of publication, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety has not released any video of the shooting — neither body-camera footage nor overhead surveillance from the Walmart car park. A brief clip filmed by a bystander circulated online shortly after the incident but showed neither the shots being fired nor the car moving toward the officers.
A Department of Public Safety spokesperson confirmed to mississippifreepress.org that surveillance footage would be released to media organisations through public records requests. The Mississippi Free Press has submitted such a request.
Neither Vellesiya Wiley nor Ferrell has been charged with a crime, and officials have released no evidence of shoplifting. Both women and the child are Black. The officer identified as the subject of the investigation, Hunter Foster, is white.
Activist: "There is blood on your hands"
Marquell Bridges, a Mississippi activist and president of the Building Bridges Coalition, reacted sharply to Fitch's announcement. "There is blood on your hands. Not just Hunter Foster, but everyone that is complicit in the cover-up, including Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and everything that happens as a result," Bridges told the Mississippi Free Press on Monday.
Prior misconduct allegations against the officer
In July, Mississippi Today reported internal complaints showing that Foster had been accused of making a racially offensive remark to a coworker in the days before Wiley's shooting. Two additional incidents in which Foster faced police misconduct allegations in court cases also came to light following the shooting. One of those cases was dismissed; the other ended in a confidential settlement.
Last month, the City of Senatobia dismissed its white police chief, Harold Vanderford, after the New York Times, Mississippi Today and Verite reported on racist text messages in which he repeatedly used racial slurs.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)