Oct. 22, 2026Updated Oct. 23, 2026, 11:33 a.m. ET
The family of a 1-year-old boy who was fatally shot by a Mississippi police officer said newly released body-camera footage shows the shooting was not justified, days after state officials cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
Relatives of Kohen Wiley, joined by civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Van Turner, reviewed the footage before state authorities publicly released the videos and a heavily redacted incident report on Oct. 22. The released footage included video from the body camera worn by the Senatobia police officer who fatally shot Wiley.
After watching the footage, Wiley’s family and their attorneys said they believe the shooting was not justified. The release came a day after parts of the footage were leaked online through local media outlets.
Wiley’s maternal grandmother, Veronica Roberson, described both the leak and the way the family learned of the state’s decision clearing the officer as “slaps in the face.” She said seeing portions of the footage online before the family’s viewing left relatives feeling they had been “robbed” of the opportunity to view it together as planned.
“The word ‘justified’ has haunted me,” Roberson said during a news conference on Oct. 22. “No one reached out to the family. No courtesy … Five officers with guns drawn at a car with two women and a baby. There’s no justification for that.”
Earlier this week, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced that its review of the June 14 shooting found Senatobia police Sgt. Hunter Foster’s use of force was justified and that he would not face criminal charges. The shooting occurred after officers responded to reports of suspected shoplifting at a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis.
Wiley was killed, and another passenger was wounded after Foster fired into the vehicle as officers tried to stop it, according to authorities. Wiley would have turned 2 years old on Nov. 1, Crump said at the news conference.
The officer was placed on leave, the city of Senatobia announced June 16. It was unclear whether Foster was still employed by the police department as of Oct. 22.
During the news conference, Turner said Foster had resigned. City officials did not respond to the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s, part of the USA TODAY Network, request for comment regarding the officer’s employment status.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety declined to comment further on the incident and investigation.
What did the body camera footage show?
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety released redacted videos of the shooting, including footage from three officers’ body-worn cameras as well as surveillance footage from Walmart’s entrance and parking lot cameras.
The videos show five Senatobia police officers inside a Walmart security room reviewing surveillance footage when a store employee alerts them that “two people are running.” Officers immediately leave the room and rush toward a gray Ford Fusion sedan in the parking lot.
Body-camera and surveillance footage show the vehicle beginning to move as officers run toward it and order the driver to stop. The car reverses and collides with a parked vehicle. Officers then converge around the sedan, surrounding it on multiple sides.
The footage shows the car pause briefly before accelerating forward and turning left. As the vehicle veered to the side, video appears to show Foster place a hand on the hood before firing into the vehicle.
Incident report: Vehicle ‘sped toward the officers’
According to the incident report, officers from the Tate County Sheriff’s Office and Senatobia Police Department had responded to the Walmart regarding “an unknown male that was attempting to sexually harass customers.” The officers were looking through store surveillance footage to locate the man when store employees told officers that people who had committed “fraudulent transactions” were leaving the store.
The report states that officers followed two people out of the store and ordered them to stop before they entered the sedan.
The driver rear-ended another car, then “placed the vehicle in drive and sped toward the officers,” according to the report. At that point, one officer fired his gun. The car Wiley was in then hit another vehicle and drove out of the parking lot.
Wiley was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, the report states. Another passenger had critical injuries and was airlifted to another hospital, while the third passenger did not appear to be injured.
Family’s attorneys say fatal shot was fired from side of vehicle
Attorneys for Wiley’s family argued that officers escalated the encounter from the outset by approaching what they described as an alleged misdemeanor shoplifting case with “guns drawn.” Crump called the response “excessive” and “reckless,” noting that the allegations involved the theft of diapers and that no one had been charged in connection with the suspected shoplifting.
“The video corroborates what was stated when we revealed that autopsy, the fact that baby Kohen Wiley was shot from the side, from right to left,” Crump said at the news conference. “We continue to stand on the fact that the shot from the side of the vehicle was not justified.”
Roberson disputed that officers were in danger when the fatal shot was fired, saying the video showed the officer was not threatened by the vehicle.
“I watched an officer come from the inside of Walmart … and run out with guns drawn,” Roberson said. “You shot my grandbaby from the side of the car. How are you in danger if you on the passenger side of the car, the car is going to the left?”
The family’s attorneys said they plan to seek a federal review of the case by the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI.
Contributing: Jack Armstrong and Corinne S Kennedy, Memphis Commercial Appeal; Bonnie Bolden, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
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