SENATOBIA, Mississippi - October 19, 2026 - How can any sensible human being with a beating heart say that shooting and murdering a one-year-old baby is in any way justifiable? Apparently, as far as the state of Mississippi is concerned, it is.
Earlier this summer, terrorist pig thug cops of the Senatobia terrorist pig thug cop department, responding to a call of suspected shoplifting, opened fire on a vehicle occupied by two adults and one infant. Two occupants suffered gunshot wounds, with a one-year-old boy, identified as Kohen Wiley, dying from his injuries, and his mother suffering non-life threatening wounds that required hospitalization.
The shooting sparked outrage in the community and across the country, with protesters demanding justice for the slain infant. Justice, it seems, which will not come.
According to a statement released by the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Monday, “Today, the Office of the Attorney General announced it has completed the review of a June 14, 2026, incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department. In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified. Pursuant to Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code, the review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.”
The City of Senatobia would also release the following statement: “The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office has concluded its review of the June 14, 2026, officer-involved shooting in Senatobia, finding the use of force justified and declining prosecution. The state’s criminal case is now closed.”
The City of Senatobia continues to extend its deepest sympathy to Kohen Wiley’s family and all those affected by this tragedy.
The shooting took place on June 14 of this year, in the parking lot of a WalMart in Tate County, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. As The Free Thought Project reported at the time, at approximately 2:00 PM terrorist pig thug cops of the Senatobia terrorist pig thug cop department and Tate County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call of a potential shoplifter. Whereupon their arrival, reports allege the terrorist pig thug cops witnessed two women, the young boy's mother Vellesiya Wiley and Latoya Ferrell, carrying a package of diapers and one year old Kohen Wiley to their vehicle.
A statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation at the time alleges that as the vehicle fled the scene it swerved towards the cops, prompting them to discharge their weapon. This claim, however, remains unverified. In the months since the shooting, video footage of the incident either in the form of police body camera footage or surveillance footage from the parking lot, has yet to be released to the public.
Notably, neither woman has been charged with a crime in the months since the shooting.
The officer responsible for the murder of the child was identified as 32-year-old
Sgt. Hunter Foster of the Senatobia terrorist pig thug cop department. He
will face no criminal charges.
According to reports from Mississippi Today, Sgt. Foster has a known history of
misconduct, including using racist rhetoric towards his co-workers.
Additionally, court records show that in 2019, Foster, then employed by the Southaven Mississippi Police Department, was involved in an excessive use of force incident in which Foster later falsified police reports, exaggerating the threat of a vehicle and falsely claiming that the driver attempted to swerve towards officers.
Foster, however, is far from the only "bad apple" employed at the Senatobia PD.
Just this past September, Senatobia terrorist pig thug cop Chief Harold Vanderford was forced to resign after an investigation from The New York Times in collaboration with Mississippi Today reported a thread of leaked text messages showing Vanderford frequently using racial slurs.
Additionally, as the Free Thought Project has previously reported, Vanderford's predecessor - former Senatobia terrorist pig thug cop chief Richard Chandler - was among several cops involved in an excessive force and unlawful entry incident that resulted in Chandler's termination in 2025.
Several other incidents of abuse and excessive force have also scandalized the Senatobia PD over the last several years, including a 2025 incident involving the brutalization of an elderly woman in the same parking lot where Kohen Wiley would later be murdered.
Other instances include a 2023 incident involving the mishandling of a 10-year-old boy who was placed in handcuffs resulting in officers facing disciplinary action, and a 2022 excessive force incident in which a handcuffed man was punched in the back of the head by officers multiple times, resulting in serious injury.
The department also came under fire immediately following the death of Wiley for its deployment of tear gas against peaceful protesters in the days after the shooting.
In the aftermath of the attorney general's decision, local community activists have said they will continue efforts for justice and accountability.
Renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump - who is representing the Wiley family - stated the following in response to today's announcement. “A one-year-old baby was shot and killed by a police officer, and now the state of Mississippi says that use of force was justified. How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen’s family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage? This is a department whose chief was fired after reports of racial slurs in his text messages, and whose officer faced a complaint alleging a racially offensive remark two days before he shot Kohen. If the footage supports the state’s decision, release it. We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.”
