The Senatobia, Mississippi, police officer who shot into a car and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley in June has resigned, days after the state attorney general's office ruled his use of force justified and declined to prosecute.
Officer Hunter Foster "resigned for the good of the city and the police department and to permit the process of healing," his lawyer, Martin Zummach, said, NBC News reported. Zummach said Foster "emphatically denies knowing a child was in the car or in the front seat."
What happened
On June 14, officers responded to a reported shoplifting at a Walmart in Senatobia, about 40 miles south of Memphis. Police believed two women had taken diapers and baby clothes. Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was a passenger in the car, and her friend was driving.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said that day that "the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one," and that "An officer then discharged their weapon." The shot killed Kohen and wounded the driver. Wiley has disputed that account. In a video released by family lawyer Ben Crump, she said she lifted her son to show officers he was in the car.
Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other crime, according to the Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour. Officials have not released evidence of a theft.
The ruling and the video
On October 19, Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office announced that "the Attorney General's Office found the use of force was justified," citing its review authority under Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code, the Mississippi Free Press reported. Zummach said the driver "tried to kill" his client and other officers, and "He had no choice but to fire his weapon."
Crump responded: "If the footage supports the state's decision, release it." He added: "We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth." On Thursday, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety did. According to NBC, the footage from several officers shows five officers approaching the car with guns drawn, the car reversing into a parked vehicle and then driving forward toward an officer, who fired and shattered the front passenger window.
A preliminary independent autopsy cited by Crump indicates Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front, the AP reported. Legal expert John P. Gross called the shooting "almost certainly unjustified," saying "you don't shoot vehicles."
Our analysis: the questions the ruling answered, and the ones it didn't
Did the car move toward an officer?: Yes, per MBI and the video as described. Whether anyone was in the car's path when the shot was fired.
Was the force justified?: Yes, per the AG. Crump says it was excessive, an autopsy suggests a side angle.
Was a theft proven?: No evidence released. Neither woman charged.
Criminal case: Closed. Crump vows the family "will not stop fighting".
Under the Fourth Amendment, police use of force is judged by whether it was objectively reasonable in light of the facts the officer faced. In May 2025 the Supreme Court, in Barnes v. Felix, unanimously rejected the Fifth Circuit's "moment-of-threat" rule, which looked only at the final seconds before a shooting. Writing for the Court, Justice Elena Kagan said the "totality of the circumstances" inquiry into a use of force "has no time limit," so earlier events count. That case, too, involved an officer firing into a moving car after a traffic stop. That matters here. A car driving at an officer can justify deadly force in the moment, but courts may also weigh how the confrontation began and what the officer could see, such as whether a child was visible. The justices expressly left open whether an officer's own creation of the danger bears on reasonableness, saying that question was "not properly before us."
An attorney general's decision not to prosecute closes the state criminal case. It does not decide a civil rights lawsuit, where a jury could reach a different conclusion. Interim Police Chief Angelica Maze has also resigned, and the city named LaMorris Hampton as her successor on Friday.
For how a different police shooting played out in court, see Amber Guyger Released on Parole. For the legal line between self-defense doctrines, see Castle Doctrine vs. Stand Your Ground.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
