A Senatobia, Mississippi, police officer has resigned days after state officials concluded that his use of deadly force was justified in the June shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.
Hunter Foster submitted his resignation Friday, according to Senatobia City Clerk Katie Harbin. Mayor Greg Graves also confirmed Foster’s departure. The resignation came shortly after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced that the officer’s actions complied with the law.
The shooting occurred on June 14, when Senatobia police officers and Tate County sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported shoplifting incident involving diapers and baby clothes. Officers followed Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, and her friend as they left a Walmart and got into a vehicle.
At the time, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said officers attempted to stop the car because the driver appeared to be moving toward them.
“Stop the car!” officers can be heard shouting in body-camera footage released Thursday. The vehicle continued forward and appeared to move toward at least one officer. Foster, who was standing near the front passenger side of the car, then fired into the vehicle.
Kohen, who was 1 year old, was struck and killed. The driver, who was a friend of Kohen’s mother, was also wounded.
In separate body-camera footage, Foster later told another law enforcement officer that he had not realized a baby was inside the vehicle. The video has fueled criticism from Kohen’s family and civil rights advocates, who argue that officers used excessive force during a response to a relatively minor property crime.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch concluded Monday that Foster’s use of force was justified. The decision prompted renewed outrage from Kohen’s family and their attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
“This was excessive from the very start,” Crump said at a news conference Thursday. “They came out with guns drawn for a shoplifting misdemeanor.”
He added, “The bullet that killed 1-year-old baby Kohen Wiley was not justified.”
Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, defended the officer and said the driver posed an immediate threat to law enforcement.
“The driver of the vehicle was attempting to kill those 5 officers, and Hunter Foster had no choice but to discharge his weapon,” Zummach said in a statement. “We are very sad for the loss of life. But the outcome of the investigation was not only expected, but it was overdue.”
The state’s conclusion has not ended calls for accountability. Kohen’s death drew national attention and intensified long-standing concerns about the relationship between Senatobia’s police department and the city’s Black residents.
The controversy comes after several other incidents involving the department. Last year, a Senatobia officer was accused of using a Taser on a Black woman and pulling her from her vehicle during a dispute over a handicapped parking space. In another incident, an officer was fired after arresting a 10-year-old boy for urinating in public.
Former Senatobia Police Chief Harold Vanderford was also fired last month after reports alleged that he used racist slurs in private text messages, according to the Associated Press.
While state investigators determined Foster’s actions were legally justified, the resignation and ongoing criticism ensure that the circumstances surrounding Kohen’s death will remain a subject of public debate. The family continues to dispute the official account of the shooting and has called for further scrutiny of the officers’ actions.