SENATOBIA, Miss. — A one-year-old baby is ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, sH๏τ in his mother’s arms during a chaotic confrontation over suspected shoplifted diapers, and Mississippi’s attorney general has declared the police śh́óóting “justified.” The October 19, 2026, ruling by Attorney General Lynn Fitch has triggered fresh waves of national outrage, renewed protests, and urgent calls for a federal Department of Justice investigation. Days later, the officer who fired the fatal sH๏τs, Sgt. Hunter Foster, resigned — yet he retains his law enforcement certification, meaning he could still wear a badge elsewhere.
The tᩚraɢedy unfolded on June 14, 2026, in the parking lot of a Senatobia Walmart. Officers initially responded to a call about an unknown male attempting to Sєxually harᴀss customers. While reviewing surveillance footage, they observed what they believed were fraudulent transactions or shoplifting involving diapers and baby clothes. Two Black women — Vellesiya Wiley and her friend — were seen leaving the store, getting into a gray Ford Fusion, and beginning to drive away. Neither woman has been charged with any theft-related offense, and Wiley has consistently denied stealing anything.
What happened next is captured in body-worn camera footage released in late October. Officers swarmed the vehicle with guns drawn, ordering it to stop. According to Wiley, as police approached aggressively, she lifted her son Kohen high in the pᴀssenger seat to clearly show the officers there was a baby in the car. “By the time I sat my baby back down, it was like three or four sH๏τs. One of the sH๏τs hit him in his rib cage,” she recounted. The driver began to reverse, reportedly bumping a parked car, then moved forward and turned. Foster opened fire, striking Kohen and seriously wounding the driver. Kohen was pronounced ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at a hospital. His mother’s devastating words still echo: “I watched my baby take his first breath and I watched my baby take his last breath.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation initially claimed the vehicle “drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one,” justifying the use of ᴅᴇᴀᴅly force. Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, reinforced this, stating the driver “tried to 𝘬iᩚll” officers and that his client “had no choice but to fire his w𝔢𝔞𝔭𝔬η.” Zummach added that Foster was “shocked and sickened that a baby died,” insisting he did not see the child in the front seat and was unaware the stop involved suspected shoplifting.
Yet emerging evidence paints a more troubling picture. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family concluded the fatal wound was consistent with a sH๏τ fired from the side of the vehicle, not a direct frontal threat. Bodycam and surveillance footage reviewed by the family, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and analysts appear to show Foster positioned beside the car as it turned and moved away, shattering the pᴀssenger-side window. Crump has been blunt: “Firing into a car in a busy Walmart parking lot is reckless. It’s a miracle no one else was hit.” He added, “Shoplifting diapers is a misdemeanor. It doesn’t warrant the dєatᩚh penalty.”
The case is riddled with red flags that sharpen the outrage. The attorney general’s review reportedly did not include direct interviews with Kohen’s mother or key witnesses, according to the family. Foster himself had faced prior accusations of directing racially offensive language at coworkers in the year leading up to the śh́óóting, and he had been named in previous excessive force lawsuits from other Mississippi agencies. The former Senatobia police chief who took no action against him was later fired amid his own racism scandal.
At emotional press conferences following the footage release and AG’s decision, Kohen’s grandmother Veronica Roberson expressed the family’s profound grief: “That baby meant everything to me. He’s all I had… He brought so much joy into the world.” Crump and co-counsel Van Turner have demanded full transparency, decertification of Foster so he cannot patrol another community, and a federal civil rights investigation. “We must have more empathy for human life, America, because baby Kohen’s life mattered,” Crump declared. The family argues this ruling devalues Black lives, treating a toddler as collateral damage in a minor property dispute rather than prioritizing de-escalation when a child is visibly present.
Mississippi officials maintain the force was reasonable to neutralize a perceived ᴅᴇᴀᴅly w𝔢𝔞𝔭𝔬η — the car itself. Yet critics, including independent media analyses, question whether standard police training on moving vehicles, presence of children, and proportionality was followed in a crowded public space. The speed with which the case was closed without charges, contrasted against the independent autopsy and video evidence suggesting the fatal sH๏τ came from the side, fuels accusations of a system protecting its own at the expense of accountability.
Kohen Wiley would have turned two in early November. Instead, his family mourns at a memorial, his image bearing the words “Forever 1.” His dєatᩚh is not an isolated tᩚraɢedy but a stark illustration of how quickly a mundane call can escalate into irreversible loss when lєthaℓ force becomes the default response. The resignation of Sgt. Foster, while welcomed by some as a small step, changes little without systemic reform, decertification, and transparent answers.
As Ben Crump stated after viewing the footage, “The fight is not over.” The Wiley family’s demand for a DOJ probe ensures this case will not fade quietly. In an era of ubiquitous cameras and heightened scrutiny, the public can judge the evidence for itself: Was a baby’s life truly outweighed by alleged stolen diapers, or does “justified” here reveal deeper failures in policing, empathy, and justice? The footage, the autopsy, the officer’s history, and a grieving mother’s testimony offer compelling evidence that demands more than a quick clearance. America is watching.
