In a case that garnered national attention, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch issued a statement October 19, concluding that the June 16 shooting of one-year-old Kohen Wiley by a Senatobia, Mississippi, police officer, was a “justified” use of force and will not consider criminal prosecution.
The decision has sparked anger and frustration toward a law enforcement system that continues to disregard Black lives, even involving the youngest, most innocent victims.
Kohen was in his mother’s lap in the passenger side of a vehicle when he was killed in the parking lot of Walmart after an alleged shoplifting incident. (See The Final Call Vol. 45 No. 38) His mother and the other young woman in the car were not charged with a crime.
According to a Mississippi Today news report, Officer Hunter Foster, the officer accused of firing the shots that killed baby Kohen, had received internal complaints days prior to the shooting, with accusations of making an offensive racial remark to a Black co-worker. He was also involved in two previous accusations of police misconduct.
Before the family could receive the official bodycams and CCTV parking lot footage to review privately before being released to the public, videos were “leaked” by Darkhorsepress, an online Mississippi community news source, and shared with media outlets which released them first.
Noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Attorney Van Turner, who represent the family, held a press conference on Oct. 22 to address the family’s concerns about the Attorney General’s decision not to file charges against the officer.
“First, I want to say that the word ‘justified’ have haunted me since Monday. I went to work, and I had to find out through news sources,” said Veronica Roberson, Kohen’s maternal grandmother. “No one reached out to the family. No courtesy. No like this. A single call, a heads up, anything to prepare us for what we was about to face,” she said.
“The second slap in the face for me was leaked videos. You know, you tell us that we’re gonna watch the videos first. The family, you know, that’s the courtesy of the family. But I seen all videos from multiple outlets,” Ms. Roberson continued.
“That was a slap in our face. I feel like we’ve been robbed of this experience, I feel like we have been done wrong. I watched an officer come from the inside of Walmart, not knowing what’s going on, and run out with guns drawn. Five officers with guns drawn at a car with two women and a baby. There’s no justification for that.
“You shot my grandbaby from the side of the car. How are you in danger if you on the passenger side of the car? The car is going to the left. You are never in danger, and you kill my grandbaby. And there’s no justice for that. Somebody got to help us with this, and I won’t stop until we get justice for my grandbaby,” Ms. Roberson concluded.
“We think that they never ever should have drawn their weapons for a misdemeanor shoplifting allegation,” said Atty. Crump. “This happened on Walmart’s property, and even Walmart has policies that say you don’t chase people for shoplifting.”
Nation of Islam Holly Springs, Mississippi Study Group Coordinator Abdul Sha-hid Muhammad spoke to The Final Call after viewing the online videos, based on his 32-year history as a police officer and a detective.
“You have officers charging out of the store [for an alleged non-violent misdemeanor], the officers draw weapons, run in front of the car and yell ‘Stop’, with weapons pointed. Now the car was in motion.
Federal law as well as there is a Mississippi state law that clearly states that an officer cannot put himself in harm’s way to justify using deadly force. Under both federal constitutional law and Mississippi state law, a police officer cannot deliberately create their own danger or put themselves in harm’s way to manufacture a justification to shoot someone,” he explained.
Attorney Turner called on engagement at the federal level for justice, as he recalled cases such as the killing of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till in Mississippi.
“We can read the record of what we’ve seen in this state time and time again when it comes to the lives of Black people, and we’re talking about a baby this time, a little baby. And so, since the city, the county, and the state has not done anything to hold [Officer] Foster accountable, we have to go to the federal government.
So, first and foremost, we’re going to petition the Department of Justice to open an investigation to make sure that we get justice for this baby. It just won’t end here. We got to take it all the way to the top. We got to ask the federal government to get involved.
We got to ask them to dispatch the FBI and the authorities to come here to look at the footage and to make sure that we are double checking what these people are telling us, because I don’t know if we trust them all the way. Do we? We don’t know.”
According to WSAZ.com, attorneys Crump and Turner said the videos from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation match the results of their independent autopsy. “Kohen was shot through the side, right to left. According to Crump, MBI said a total of three bullets were fired,” the news outlet noted.
“The third bullet from the side, the bullet that killed one-year-old baby Kohen Wiley, was not justified,” said Atty. Crump, according to WSAZ.com. After being cleared by the Mississippi Attorney General, Senatobia Police Officer Hunter Foster reportedly resigned, according to Turner.
But Kohen’s family, their legal team, and the community want Mr. Foster decertified, the outlet reported. At Final Call presstime, various media outlets reported that Mr. Hunter did resign as did the interim police chief.
Student Minister Shahid shared what he saw as next steps for Mississippi. “The one weapon we have yet to deploy, as a people, that the Most Honorable Elijah Muhamamd taught us that is more powerful than an atomic or hydrogen bond is our unity,” he said, referring to the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam.
Student Min. Shahid Muhammad explained the need for separation, as taught by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.
“Because if they can kill our children and say that they can’t find a reason to move forward with an indictment even though the video footage shows these officers putting themselves in harm’s way, unnecessarily.
Drawing a gun at a car occupied by two women and a child that is allegedly responsible for a shoplifting and you can say that’s a justified shooting;
what they are saying and what we have been taught and what we have been told for decades now by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is that if we can’t get freedom, justice and equality, points number one, two and three of ‘What the Muslims Want,’ then separation is the best and only solution.
We have not been able to get freedom, justice and equality.” The Muslim Program by the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad is printed on the inside back page of The Final Call, and includes “What the Muslims Want” and “What the Muslims Believe.”
