Mississippi AG Calls Police Shooting 'Justified' After 1-Year-Old Was Killed in His Mother's Arms Outside Walmart

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office has ruled that a police officer was justified in opening fire on a vehicle outside a Walmart, killing 1-year-old Kohen Wiley as his mother held him in the front passenger seat. The decision, announced on Monday, 19 October 2026, means the state will not pursue criminal charges against the officer.

The shooting happened on 14 June in Senatobia, northern Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) said officers responding to an alleged shoplifting incident opened fire after the vehicle drove towards them, 'almost striking' an officer. Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, disputes that account. She and the driver, Latoya Ferrell, have not been charged.

What the Attorney General Decided

Fitch's office said in a public statement that it had completed its review and 'found the use of force was justified'. The announcement did not identify the officer or set out the evidence behind the decision.

A letter from Fitch, posted online by the city of Senatobia, stated that her office would not file charges against the officer or any other officers because there was 'insufficient evidence of criminal conduct'.

The Shooting Outside Walmart

Officers responded to the Walmart on US Highway 51 after a report of suspected shoplifting. Police believed Wiley and a friend had taken nappies and baby clothes, the Associated Press reported. Wiley denies that she or her friend took anything. Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other offence.

According to the MBI's initial account, officers tried to stop the vehicle, which drove towards them, and an officer fired into it. Kohen died, while Ferrell was critically injured.

Records cited by Mississippi Today identified Senatobia Police Sgt Hunter Foster as the officer. Neither the attorney general nor the city has formally named him as the officer who fired. He is the only officer present who was placed on leave after the shooting.

The Family Disputes the Police Account

Wiley has said she was holding Kohen in her arms in the front passenger seat when the driver tried to back out of a parking space and then drove forward. She said in an interview in early October that MBI agents had never interviewed her.

The family's civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, has said a preliminary independent autopsy indicates Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front. That contradicts the account that the vehicle was heading towards officers, he has argued. In July, a lawyer for the family released a photo showing the car's front side window shot out, which he said suggested officers were not in the vehicle's direct path.

After the attorney general's decision, Crump called for the release of the recordings. 'How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen's family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?' he said. 'If the footage supports the state's decision, release it. We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.'

The Officer's Lawyer and Independent Experts

Martin Zummach, a lawyer for the officer who fired, said the attorney general's findings cleared his client of criminal wrongdoing. He told the Associated Press the driver 'tried to kill' his client and other officers present, and that 'he had no choice but to fire his weapon'. He told The New York Times the decision was 'expected' and 'overdue'.

John P. Gross, an expert on police use of force against moving vehicles, told the Associated Press that if a vehicle was moving towards officers, the best practice would be to get out of its way. 'This shooting was almost certainly unjustified,' he said.

Charles 'Joe' Key, a firearms and ballistics expert and former Baltimore police lieutenant who typically testifies in defence of police, said a photograph of the car after the shooting suggests the officer fired from the side. 'The body-worn camera's going to have to tell if anybody was in danger,' he said.

Footage Withheld as Wider Police Scrutiny Grows

State authorities did not say whether or when they would release body-camera or surveillance footage of the incident. The attorney general's office considers the officer's use of force justified, while the family continues to press for the recordings to be made public.

Kohen's grandmother, Veronica Roberson, told Mississippi Today that she learnt of the decision when she logged on to Facebook, and that no state or local law enforcement official had contacted the family.

The decision comes as the Senatobia Police Department faces separate scrutiny. Police Chief Harold Vanderford was dismissed on 1 September after the city's Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to terminate him. The decision followed reporting by several news outlets on private text messages in which he allegedly used racial slurs. His dismissal was separate from the investigation into Kohen's death.