Mississippi Clears Officer in Death of 1-Year-Old, but Questions Remain

Mississippi’s investigation into the fatal police shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley has concluded the officer was justified, leaving his family with unresolved questions about the moments before shots were fired

On Monday (Oct. 19), Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office announced that the use of force in the June 14 shooting was justified. The brief statement offered no detailed public explanation of the findings, identifying the incident and its conclusion without laying out the evidence supporting the decision.

We previously told you Wiley was killed in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, Mississippi, after police responded to a shoplifting report involving diapers. His mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and a family friend, Latoya Ferrell, had left the store and entered a vehicle with the child. Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting, according to The Associated Press.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said the vehicle moved toward officers, nearly striking one, prompting an officer to fire. But the family disputes that account.

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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, has cited a preliminary independent autopsy indicating that Kohen was shot from the side of the vehicle. Photographs of the car have also raised questions about the officer’s position when the shots were fired. These details do not independently establish what happened, but they underscore why access to the complete evidence matters.

Body-camera footage and Walmart surveillance video have not been publicly released, leaving residents unable to independently assess the competing accounts. Crump has called for the footage to be made public, arguing that the state’s conclusion should be open to scrutiny.

Questions also remain about the investigation itself. Mississippi Today reported that Vellesiya Wiley said in an early October interview that state investigators had never interviewed her. Kohen’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, said she learned of the attorney general’s decision through Facebook rather than direct communication from authorities.

The case has unfolded amid strained relations between Senatobia’s police department and its Black residents. Recent controversies include the dismissal of a police chief following reporting about racist text messages and earlier allegations of misconduct involving officers.

The attorney general’s finding does not answer every public question about the encounter or make the underlying evidence available for independent review. But it does establish the state’s position on the officer’s use of force.

For Kohen’s family, the next test of accountability may be whether authorities release the footage and explain how investigators reached their conclusion. Until then, the ruling and the family’s demand for answers remain in sharp tension.