SENATOBIA, Miss. — A Mississippi police officer who fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside a Walmart has resigned following the release of body-camera footage, but the child’s family continues to demand a federal investigation and further accountability after state officials determined the shooting was justified.
According to Reuters, Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves confirmed Officer Hunter Foster’s resignation on Oct. 23, one day after the Mississippi Department of Public Safety released footage of the shooting.
The resignation followed Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s determination that Foster’s use of deadly force was justified, a conclusion disputed by the child’s family and its attorneys.
The June 14 shooting occurred after officers responded to an unrelated complaint at a Walmart in Senatobia, according to the Mississippi Free Press.
While officers were investigating that complaint, a store employee alerted them to two women running outside the store.
Officers followed the women into the parking lot and approached their vehicle with firearms drawn. Kohen was seated in the front passenger seat with his mother, Vellesoya Wiley, while another woman was behind the wheel.
The vehicle reversed and collided with another car before moving forward.
According to the Mississippi Free Press’ description of the body-camera footage, Foster stepped toward the vehicle, placed a hand on its hood and moved aside while firing his weapon.
The sequence of events has become central to the dispute over whether Foster faced an immediate threat and whether deadly force was necessary.
According to WMC, Foster fired three shots, killing Kohen and wounding the driver.
State investigators concluded that the driver drove toward officers and that the moving vehicle posed a threat to Foster, according to the report.
The child’s family and its attorneys dispute that assessment, questioning whether the officer’s actions were necessary and whether the encounter could have been handled without deadly force.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, questioned why officers approached what was described as a suspected shoplifting incident with their firearms drawn.
According to the Mississippi Free Press, Crump also criticized the decision to fire into an occupied vehicle in a busy store parking lot, arguing that the officer’s actions endangered people beyond those involved in the encounter.
The family’s attorneys have challenged the state’s determination that the shooting was justified and called for an independent investigation.
According to The Associated Press, the two women denied stealing diapers and had not been charged in connection with the suspected theft.
The AP also reported that Foster had previously been named in a federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from a 2019 arrest in Southaven, Mississippi.
In that case, the plaintiffs alleged excessive force and accused Foster of falsely claiming that their vehicle had threatened an officer.
Foster and the other defendants denied the allegations, and the lawsuit was settled in 2022. The settlement did not establish that Foster had engaged in misconduct.
The earlier lawsuit was separate from the shooting of Kohen and does not establish wrongdoing in the fatal encounter.
However, the prior allegations raise questions about how law enforcement agencies evaluate an officer’s history when reviewing use-of-force incidents and employment decisions.
Although Foster has resigned from the Senatobia Police Department, Kohen’s family is seeking additional action.
According to WMC, the family’s attorneys are calling for Foster’s law enforcement certification to be revoked and for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the shooting.
Decertification could prevent an officer from continuing to serve in law enforcement, while a federal investigation could examine whether the shooting violated federal civil rights laws.
Neither action automatically follows an officer’s resignation or a state decision declining criminal charges.
The competing accounts of the shooting center on whether the moving vehicle presented an immediate threat sufficient to justify deadly force.
State officials concluded that Foster’s actions were justified under the circumstances, while the family’s attorneys argue that the officer’s approach and decision to fire unnecessarily escalated the encounter.
The state’s determination not to pursue criminal charges does not necessarily resolve separate questions about departmental policies, officer tactics or potential civil liability.
For Kohen’s family, Foster’s resignation has not resolved those concerns.
The family continues to seek an independent review of the shooting and further accountability for the death of the 1-year-old child.
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