Kohen Wiley shooting ‘was justified,’ says Mississippi AG

The police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley as he sat on his mother’s lap in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, Mississippi, in June “was justified,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office announced Monday.

“Today, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it has completed a review of an incident that occurred on June 14, 2026, in Senatobia involving an officer of the Senatobia Police Department,” the Republican Attorney General’s statement said. “In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office determined that the use of force was justified. Pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 45-1-6, the review follows an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.”

Officers were responding to a shoplifting call alleging that Wiley’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell had stolen a package of diapers. The women exited the store with the child when officers arrived, got into their vehicle and began to leave the parking lot. The officers drew their weapons and Vellesiya Wiley lifted her son to show the officers that there was a child in the car. A police officer fired into the vehicle, killing the baby as she held him. A bullet also injured Ferrell.

A multiracial group protested following the police killing of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in Senatobia, Mississippi on June 26, 2026. MFP photo by Nick Judin

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the shooting, said on the day of the shooting that “the driver drove toward the officers, nearly striking one.”

As of press time, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety had not released any surveillance video of the Kohen Wiley shooting, neither body camera footage nor aerial video from the Walmart parking lot where Wiley was shot. A short clip from a bystander was posted online shortly after the shooting, showing neither the gunshots nor the car driving toward the officers.

Neither woman has been charged with a crime and authorities have not released any evidence of shoplifting. Wiley and both women are black; the officer identified as the subject of the investigation, Hunter Foster, is white.

A Department of Public Safety spokesperson confirmed to the Mississippi Free Press that video surveillance footage of the shooting will soon be released to media outlets through public records requests. The Mississippi Free Press submitted a request for available images.

“There is blood on your hands. Not just Hunter Foster, but everyone who is complicit in the cover-up, including Attorney General Lynn Fitch, and everything that comes with it,” Marquell Bridges, a Mississippi activist who is president of the Building Bridges Coalition, told the Mississippi Free Press on Monday after Fitch’s announcement.

Marquell Bridges, president of the Building Bridges Coalition, led a protest march and organized much of the resistance to the police shooting of Kohen Wiley, bringing together a wide range of organizations in Senatobia, Mississippi, to mourn and protest on June 26, 2026. MFP photo by Nick Judin

In July, Mississippi Today reported on internal complaints showing Foster was accused of making a racist remark to a co-worker days before Wiley’s shooting. Additionally, two previous incidents in which Foster was accused of police misconduct in court cases surfaced after the shooting. One of these cases was dismissed; the other ended in a confidential settlement.

Last month, the city of Senatobia fired 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.

Follow Mississippi Free Press coverage at Kohen Wiley and read past stories here.

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