Mississippi Finds Officer’s Force Justified in Toddler’s Death

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office said October 19 that an officer’s use of force in the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was justified and that the state would bring no criminal charges against the officer or others involved. The decision followed a review of findings from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which examined the June 14 shooting in Senatobia. The shooting occurred in a Walmart parking lot after Senatobia police responded to a shoplifting report. The bureau’s initial account said the driver of a vehicle carrying Wiley, his mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and another woman moved toward officers and nearly struck one. An officer then fired into the vehicle, killing Kohen and wounding the other woman, according to the bureau’s account. Vellesiya Wiley has disputed that description. She said the vehicle was not heading toward officers and that she lifted her son to show police he was in the car before shots were fired. She has also denied that she or her friend stole anything. Neither woman had been charged with theft in the reports available by October 20. The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said an independent autopsy indicated Kohen was shot from...