Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced that an officer’s use of force was justified in the June 14 fatal shooting of one-year-old Kohen Wiley during a Walmart parking lot stop in Senatobia, closing the criminal review without charges against the officer as newly surfaced footage sparks fresh demands for transparency.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced on October 19, 2026, that her office completed its review of the June 14 incident involving the Senatobia Police Department and determined that the use of force was justified. The decision arrived four months after the fatal encounter outside a local Walmart, where officers had responded to a shoplifting call involving diapers and baby clothes.
Martin Zummach, an attorney representing the officer who fired the fatal shot, told the Associated Press that the findings cleared his client of criminal wrongdoing, stating that the vehicle’s driver tried to harm officers on the scene.
Kohen Wiley deserved better https://t.co/iMg3Jskwuz
Senatobia Police Response and the Walmart Parking Lot Encounter
The sequence of events began when Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting complaint at the Walmart store. According to a statement issued by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, officers attempted to stop a vehicle as it prepared to leave the Walmart parking lot. Investigators alleged that the driver drove in the direction of officers, nearly striking one, which prompted an officer to discharge a weapon into the car.
One-year-old Kohen Wiley was sitting in his mother’s lap in the passenger seat. The child was struck by gunfire and later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The vehicle’s driver, Latoya Ferrell, sustained critical injuries during the shooting.
Neither Vellesiya Wiley nor Latoya Ferrell has been charged with a crime, and state officials have not publicly released evidence supporting the initial shoplifting accusation.
Newly Released Body Camera and Surveillance Footage
Video footage published by local outlet Darkhorse Press and reviewed by multiple news organizations captured the chaotic moments inside and outside the store. The recordings show officers running from the store into the parking lot as a gray sedan begins to reverse.
Video obtained by Darkhorse Press and verified by CBS News shows moments before a Mississippi police officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley on June 14. CBS News has not independently obtained the video.As CBS News’ @SkylerHenry reports, the footage shows a car backing into… pic.twitter.com/ysTttMYQWj
The vehicle backs into a parked sport utility vehicle, then moves forward toward officers who have drawn their weapons. At least one officer opens fire as the car passes them. The footage does not include video from the specific officer who fired the fatal shot.
I didn’t even see a f—ing baby in her lap.
Unidentified officer, via Action News 5
Another officer responded on the recording, Nobody knew the baby was there.
Family and Civil Rights Attorney Demands for Transparency
Kohen’s family, represented by prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, strongly condemned the attorney general’s decision. Crump and the family’s legal team pointed to an independent autopsy indicating that the child was shot from the side of the car rather than the front, which they argue contradicts claims that the vehicle drove directly at officers.
A 1-year-old baby was shot and killed by a police officer, and now the state of Mississippi says that use of force was justified. How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen’s family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?
Ben Crump, family attorney
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety indicated that official footage packages, including five body-worn cameras and Walmart surveillance recordings, would be made available for the family to view.
Vellesiya Wiley shares her account of the events that led to the tragic death of her 1-year-old son, Kohen Wiley, during a police encounter in Senatobia, Mississippi. The officer who fatally shot Kohen has been placed on administrative leave, but for Kohen’s family, leave is not… pic.twitter.com/f8EK4WTCL7
Broader Scrutiny Surrounding the Senatobia Police Department
The attorney general’s ruling intersects with a series of controversies involving the Senatobia Police Department. In September, the city’s board of aldermen fired its police chief, Harold Vanderford, after reporting revealed he had routinely used racial slurs in private text messages. Reporting by Mississippi Today and The New York Times also surfaced internal complaints showing that Sgt. Hunter Foster, the officer identified by press records as the subject of the investigation, faced accusations of making a racially offensive remark to a colleague just days before the shooting.
State legislators from the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus joined community activists, including Building Bridges Coalition president Marquell Bridges and Senatobia Committee for Accountability and Transparency founder Patrick Lumumba, in demanding a thorough accounting of the department’s internal climate.
Attorney Van Turner, representing the Wiley family, stated that legal avenues in federal and civil courts remain under consideration as the family continues its push for accountability.