Mississippi attorney general says force was justified in fatal shooting of one-year-old

Mississippi police used justified force when an officer fired at a car during a shoplifting investigation, killing a one-year-old boy inside, the state’s attorney general has ruled, according to the BBC.

Kohen Wiley was sitting on his mother’s lap in the passenger seat when he was shot in June in Senatobia. Police said the car was driven towards officers. Authorities said they had been called to a report that nappies and baby clothes had allegedly been stolen.

Police were called to a “Walmart” store on 14 June. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said officers arrived to find two women and a child walking towards a car. Officers tried to stop the vehicle, which was allegedly driven at one of them, nearly striking an officer. An officer then opened fire, killing Kohen and critically injuring the driver, Latoya Ferrell.

Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has denied that she or Ferrell were stealing. She said she lifted her son from her lap to show officers he was there before he was hit by gunfire. Neither she nor Ferrell has been charged with a crime.

“In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement on Monday. Police have not released footage from the shooting, including body-camera recordings or CCTV from the parking lot.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Wiley family, rejected Fitch’s finding and called for the footage to be released. “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.”

Martin Zummach, a lawyer for the officer who fired the shots, told the Associated Press that the driver had “tried to kill” his client. “He had no choice but to fire his weapon,” Zummach said.

The shooting took place on Juneteenth, a US holiday marking the end of slavery in the country, and prompted protests in Senatobia. Protesters have alleged that race played a role in the investigation. Kohen and both women are Black, while the officer who fired was reportedly white.

Last month, the city fired its white police chief after newspapers uncovered text messages in which he repeatedly used racial slurs.