Mississippi police officer resigns after the state cleared his use of force in a June shooting outside a Walmart that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, according to officials.
Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves said Officer Hunter Foster has stepped down. The resignation followed an announcement by the Mississippi attorney general’s office earlier this week that deemed the shooting justified in connection with an alleged shoplifting response.
Mississippi police officer resigns after AG’s use-of-force finding
Authorities said officers and Tate County sheriff’s deputies were already at the Senatobia Walmart on an unrelated call when they confronted a car backing out of a parking space. They yelled for the driver to stop. When the vehicle moved forward, Foster fired into the car.
Body camera video released by authorities shows the car reversing and striking a parked vehicle as officers approached with guns drawn. As the car moved forward, Foster stepped aside, placed a hand on the hood, and gunfire from his weapon followed. The front passenger window shattered and the car sped away.
Wiley, who was 1 year old, was inside the vehicle and was killed. His mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said in a social media video that she was in the passenger seat and her friend was driving after the two left the store. She said her friend had been stopped at the exit after using self-checkout to buy diapers, and the pair ran to the car as a man went to get officers.
Wiley said she held up her son to show officers there was a child in the car. As the car backed up, it hit another vehicle, she said, and as she set her baby down, three to four shots were fired. Wiley said one round struck Kohen in the ribcage. Her friend was wounded in the arm and thigh. They drove to a hospital, where Kohen was pronounced dead.
Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, said the officer fired because the car was moving toward him, arguing his client had no choice. In a statement Friday, Zummach accused the driver, who has not been charged, of attempting to kill the officers. “We are very sad for the loss of life,” he said.
District Attorney Jay Hale said his office will review the case now that the attorney general’s office has ruled on the officer’s use of force. He said prosecutors will decide on any future grand jury presentations after meeting with investigators.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Wiley family, responded to news of Foster’s resignation by urging the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation. He said body camera footage shows how quickly the encounter escalated from an alleged shoplifting call and that accountability should not end with the resignation.
Crump has previously represented families in other high-profile cases, including police custody deaths and jail fatalities such as those examined in St. Louis City Jail deaths tied to medical care, drugs, suicide.
