Officer who shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley resigns

SENATOBIA, Miss. (WMC/Gray News) - The police officer who shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in a Walmart parking lot in June has resigned from the force, attorneys for the Wiley family told Action News 5.

Former Senatobia police officer Hunter Foster’s body-camera footage was just released Thursday by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

The video shows him running out of the store with other officers after a Walmart employee told him that accused shoplifters were on the run. Within 13 seconds, Foster’s gun was aimed at the car with Wiley inside it.

Body-camera audio captures officers shouting “Stop the car. Stop. Stop.” Gunfire is also heard along with breaking glass and screeching brakes as the car continued moving.

Three shots were fired, all from Foster’s weapon.

The shots injured the driver and killed Wiley, who was in his mother’s arms in the front passenger seat.

Kohen Wiley’s grandmother, LaSandra Williams, said she has seen the video.

“I’m having a difficult time understanding the word justified. I just don’t understand,” Williams said.

Williams, her family and their attorneys have reviewed the footage. Attorney Ben Crump addressed the shooting at a news conference Thursday.

“America, our society must have more empathy for human life,” Crump said.

The family’s legal team said Foster has resigned from the Senatobia Police Department. Crump said he wants Foster decertified.

Crump said, “The bullet that killed Kohen Wiley was not justified. This decision sends a message that a Black baby boy, his life, is not as valuable as the white diapers that he is wrapped in.”

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office ruled the shooting justified based on the investigation conducted by the Department of Public Safety.

The state’s investigation found the driver drove into the officers, and the video supports that finding. Several officers drew their guns, but only Foster opened fire.

Attorney Van Turner said the fight for justice for Kohen Wiley is not over.

“We’re going to petition the Department of Justice to open an investigation to make sure that we get justice for this baby. It just won’t end here. We have to take it all the way to the top,” Turner said.

Kohen Wiley’s mother said she held her baby up in the air to show officers a child was in the car.

Action News 5 slowed multiple body-camera videos down to see if it was easy to spot her and her child in the front seat, but it was not, especially given how quickly the incident escalated.