Newly Released Footage Shows Mississippi Officer Fired Fatal Shot at Toddler from Beside Moving Car
Newly released video footage and investigative files from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety have provided a clearer timeline of the events surrounding the death of one-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was killed in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia. The records, obtained through a public records request, include the body camera video belonging to Senatobia Police Sgt. Hunter Foster, the officer who fired the fatal shots into a vehicle carrying the toddler and his mother.
The shooting followed a retail theft complaint at the store involving Vel’lesiya Wiley, Kohen’s mother, and the driver, Latoya Ferrell. Security camera footage shows the two women pausing near the entrance while carrying a child and a box of diapers before breaking into a run toward the parking lot. An employee inside a security room monitoring screens with three Senatobia police officers and two Tate County sheriff’s deputies informed the gathered personnel that suspects were fleeing, prompting the five armed officers to sprint outside.
Footage shows officers surrounding a gray sedan as it attempted to reverse and leave, striking a parked SUV and another vehicle during the maneuver. As the car moved forward, Foster positioned himself near the front and then beside the vehicle, aiming his weapon and discharging multiple rounds through the passenger-side window as the car moved past him. According to forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell, hired by the family, the fatal bullet entered the child’s right side and exited his left.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation conducted an inquiry that led the state attorney general to clear the officers involved, concluding the shooting was justified. However, the MBI’s investigative report states only that an officer discharged his firearm after the car sped toward officers, omitting the detail that the firing officer was beside the vehicle when he discharged his weapon. Foster subsequently resigned from the police department.
Legal and policing experts have scrutinized the confrontation, noting that department policies generally prohibit standing in front of moving escape routes or firing into fleeing vehicles except under specific threat conditions. The records do not indicate that officers were aware of the child inside the vehicle prior to the shots being fired. State officials released the files following months of public calls from local residents and the family, who expressed frustration that the materials circulated publicly before they were able to review them privately.
A community vigil was recently held at the Senatobia Walmart parking lot to honor Kohen Wiley, with family members and local advocates continuing to press for accountability regarding police tactics in retail theft responses.
