OMM Newsroom
Mississippi authorities have released body camera footage showing the fatal shooting of one-year-old Kohen Wiley by a police officer responding to a shoplifting report at a “Walmart” car park. The shooting happened on 14 June in Senatobia, according to the BBC.
Kohen was sitting on his mother Vellesiya Wiley’s lap in a moving car when officers surrounded the vehicle. The state attorney general found the officer was justified in using force, while the child’s family disputes that conclusion.
The footage, released on Thursday, shows five law enforcement officers running towards the car with guns drawn after a staff member told them suspected shoplifters were getting away. The vehicle reverses into a parked car and then pulls forwards.
The officer wearing the body camera raises his gun and aims at the moving vehicle as he runs closer, shouting, “Stop!” As the car passes close to him, he fires, shattering the passenger-side window. Four gunshots can be heard as officers order the driver to stop. The car continues slowly through the car park.
Storefront CCTV appears to show another officer standing near the front of the moving vehicle when the first officer opens fire.
Martin Zummach, a lawyer representing the officer, told the BBC that the driver was “attempting to kill those 5 officers” and that his client “had no choice but to discharge his weapon”. Zummach said they were “very sad for the loss of life”, but that the investigation’s outcome was “not only expected, but it was overdue”.
The child’s mother has denied that she and another woman in the car stole nappies from the store. No charges have been filed against them. Zummach said felony charges could still be brought against the driver.
Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves confirmed to the BBC’s US partner CBS that Hunter Foster, the officer who opened fire, had resigned. The Senatobia Police Department did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for confirmation.
The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, described the police response as “excessive from the very start”. He said an allegation of shoplifting “does not warrant the death” of a child.
Kohen’s death has prompted protests and vigils in Mississippi, as well as calls for an investigation across the United States. At a news conference, relatives called for accountability. “After what I’ve seen today, I’m having a difficult time understanding the word, ‘justified,’” the boy’s grandmother, LaSandra Williams, said.
