Attorney General's office finds use of force "justfied" in fatal shooting of Senatobia toddler

The three-sentence statement offered little insight into the office's review of the incident. A longer statement, addressed to Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell and posted online bythe City of Senatobia, says there was “insufficient evidence of any criminal conduct”.

“We are declining prosecution of this matter and will close the case accordingly”, Attorney General Lynn Fitch wrote.

The findings come after investigation results by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation were turned over to the attorney general. 

"I'm hopeful that we'll get a good resolution out of this investigation with result with...hopefully, with the result of Sergeant Hunter Foster being indicted," said Van Turner, a civil rights attorney representing Wiley's family, a month ago when the attorney general's office began its review. 

The June 14 shooting happened outside a Walmart after city police and Tate County deputies responded to a shoplifting call. They began pursuing two adults in the parking lot with 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in the car.   

A statement from MBI says the adults and Wiley got into a car, claiming one of the adults began driving towards officers. That's when one officer fired at the car,hitting Wiley. Wiley's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has disputed that claim, saying the driver was not heading toward officers.

An analysis by a forensic examiner, retained by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, found that the trajectory of the bullets suggested officers were not in danger when shots were fired into the car. 

The officer involved in the shooting — Hunter Foster — was accused of exaggerating the danger a car posed in a 2019 incident when Foster was with the Southaven police department, according to records obtained by Mississippi Today. 

During the several months in which MBI investigated the incident and the attorney general's office reviewed it, Senatobia's police chief was fired, following reports that he routinely used racist and derogatory language before and during his time as chief. 

Records also obtained by Mississippi Today found that Foster was accused of making a racist remark toward a colleague just days before Wiley was fatally shot. 

In a statement, Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said the investigation remains open and active. 

"The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) is responsible for conducting a thorough and impartial investigation and submitting its findings to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office for review," Tindell wrote. "The Attorney General’s Office has the prosecutorial authority to evaluate the evidence and determine whether a case should proceed to a grand jury."

"While this investigation remains open and active, MDPS’ policy has been to release the incident report and any related body-cam footage at the conclusion of a critical incident investigation." 

Requests for investigative information should be submitted via a public records request, per the statement. 

Marquell Bridges, a community organizer who has helped organize several rallies and events following Wiley's death, called the findings a "devastating denial of justice". 

"Not only did we have to wait three months for this horrible denial of justice to occur," Bridges said, "You still haven't released any video or shown the family or the public anything: you're just telling us it was justified, which creates further mistrust in the police and our justice system for this family and for this community."

Turner, the family's attorney, said the family didn't hear about the report directly from the AG's office, but instead had to hear about it second-hand from community members and the media.

"You would think that they would have contacted them first, but that didn't occur," Turner said. "It's just an all around upsetting chain of events and the family has taken it really tough."

Turner also called the attorney general's report "perplexing" and says they intend to pursue other means of legal recourse. 

"We're not going to leave any stone unturned," Turner said. "Since the county would not do it, the state will not do it, we're going to seek the federal government's intervention to see if they'll be able to do something, along with the civil action."

Turner, the family's attorney, said the family didn't hear about the report directly from the AG's office, but instead had to hear about it second-hand from community members and the media.

"You would think that they would have contacted them first, but that didn't occur," Turner said. "It's just an all around upsetting chain of events and the family has taken it really tough."

Turner also called the attorney general's report "perplexing" and says they intend to pursue other means of legal recourse. 

"We're not going to leave any stone unturned," Turner said. "Since the county would not do it, the state will not do it, we're going to seek the federal government's intervention to see if they'll be able to do something, along with the civil action."

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has also worked with the family, coordinating the review of Wiley’s body that allowed for ananalysis of bullet entry and exit wounds.

“A 1-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?” Crump wrote in a statement on Monday. “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.”