Mississippi attorney general backs Senatobia officer after fatal shooting at shoplifting call

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch says a Senatobia police officer was justified in using force during a Walmart shoplifting call, firing at a moving vehicle investigators said drove towards officers. The shooting killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was in the car. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation reviewed the case amid public calls for justice.

Mississippi’s attorney general said a Senatobia police officer acted lawfully when firing at a car during a shoplifting response. The shot killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was inside the vehicle. The finding closed a state investigation that followed national attention and local grief in Senatobia, about 65 kilometres south of Memphis, Tennessee.

The shooting happened in mid-June outside a Walmart as officers answered a reported shoplifting call. Police saw Vellesiya Wiley carrying Kohen while leaving with a friend. Both women are Black. Investigators said officers tried to stop the car, then claimed it moved towards police, leading one officer to shoot.

Mississippi investigation into Kohen Wiley shooting at Walmart

Police believed diapers and baby clothes were taken from the store. Vellesiya Wiley has denied that anyone stole anything. Online state and county court records show no charges against Vellesiya Wiley or the friend. A Mississippi Bureau of Investigation statement said Kohen and the friend were hit after an officer fired.

Martin Zummach, who represents the officer who fired, said the attorney general’s decision removed any criminal blame. Zummach said the driver aimed the car at officers. “He had no choice but to fire his weapon,\” Zummach told The Associated Press. Vellesiya Wiley later challenged that account in a video.

Body-camera footage demand in Kohen Wiley case

Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer for Kohen Wiley’s family, said an early independent autopsy points to a side impact. Crump said this conflicts with claims that the car approached officers head-on. Crump also noted that officials have not released video of the incident for public review.

\”How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohens family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?\” Crump said in a statement. \”If the footage supports the states decision, release it. We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.\”

A photo taken after the shooting showed damage on the passenger side. The passenger window appeared shattered and the windshield showed what looked like a bullet hole on that side. Authorities said the other woman in the car suffered serious injuries during the incident.

John P. Gross, who studies police force used against moving vehicles, said officers should avoid gunfire in such moments. \”This shooting was almost certainly unjustified,\” Gross told the AP. \”In terms of both officer safety, the safety of the occupants of the vehicle and general public safety, you dont shoot vehicles.\”

Charles Joe Key, a firearms and ballistics specialist and ex-Baltimore police lieutenant, said the image suggests side firing. \”That indicates that the officer who did the shooting was not personally at risk at the time he shot,\” Key said. \”The only way it would have been justified is if officers had been in the path of a car driving directly at them.\”

Key said video evidence was central to judging danger at the scene. \”The body-worn cameras going to have to tell if anybody was in danger,\” he added. Activist Marquell Bridges, who has supported the family, also pressed for release of recordings from the encounter.

\”His family deserves the truth. The public deserves transparency,\” Bridges said. \”We will not be silent. We will not look away. And we will not allow the life of a Black child to be treated as though it means nothing.\”

Senatobia police trust concerns after Kohen Wiley death

The shooting added to existing strain between Senatobia police and Black residents, according to community accounts. In a separate incident last year, an officer threatened a Black woman with a taser. Police pulled the woman from a car and arrested the woman after a dispute over an accessible space.

Two years earlier, the city fired an officer who arrested a Black 10-year-old for urinating in public. More recently, the city’s board of aldermen removed former Police Chief Harold Vanderford. The action followed reporting that alleged racist slurs were used in private text messages.

The attorney general’s finding left the state’s criminal review settled, while calls for video release continued. The case centred on whether the car moved towards officers and where the shot came from. With no shoplifting charges filed, the public debate has stayed focused on evidence, including body-camera footage.

With inputs from PTI