Mississippi attorney general rules police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was justified
PBS NewsHour and NBC News reported that Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office found on Oct. 19 that a Senatobia officer's use of force was justified. The shooting happened June 14 in a Walmart parking lot during a response to an alleged shoplifting call. The Guardian reported officers fired into the car of Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen's mother. NBC News said police allege the driver, a friend of the mother, drove toward officers. The Mississippi Free Press said the finding means no state charges. Action News 5 identified the officer as Hunter Foster. Ben Crump, the family's lawyer, rejected the finding and asked for the footage to be released.
The ruling closes the state criminal path, which leaves a civil lawsuit or a federal civil rights review as the remaining routes. The case has deepened tension between police and Black residents in Senatobia, where a former police chief was fired over racist texts.
In Mississippi, the attorney general reviews police shootings once state investigators finish. When a decision is announced without video, families and the public must rely on the official account. You can ask local officials and lawmakers whether footage in police shootings is released and when.
The attorney general's office, as PBS NewsHour reported, found the force justified because officers faced a car driven toward them. The officer's lawyer told reporters the driver tried to kill his client, and on that view the shooting was a response to a deadly threat.
The family and Crump say the officer was not in danger and fired at a fleeing car with a child inside. The mother says she held up her son so officers could see him. Critics, cited by the Guardian, argue that withholding the footage keeps the public from judging the decision.
Confirmed: the state found the force justified and the officer faces no state charges. Not confirmed: what the body-camera video shows. Watch whether the footage is released and whether the family files a civil suit or asks the Justice Department to review the case.
DailyDrop U.S. No. 16 · October 20, 2026