Former Senatobia Police Officer Hunter Foster has resigned after authorities released body camera footage from the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley on Thursday, Action News 5 reported . The footage showed the moments leading up to the June shooting during a confrontation in a Walmart parking lot in Mississippi .
However, Vellesiya, according to state and county court records, has previously denied that she and her friend stole diapers from the business and have not been charged. She lifted Kohen up to demonstrate to the police that he was in the vehicle, according to her. “The bullet that killed Kohen Wiley was not justified,” Crump said during Thursday’s news conference.
The family was being chased for allegedly stealing diapers from Walmart. Two ladies were seen in the videos sprinting across the parking lot and getting into a car, one of them carrying a baby. With their weapons drawn, five officers approached the parked vehicle. Officers shouted for the car to stop. However, it reversed away and collided with a parked car. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family disputed the state’s legal conclusion, arguing that the death of the child should not have occurred regardless of the circumstances.
Within about 13 seconds of reaching the parking lot, Foster pointed his firearm toward a vehicle carrying Wiley and his family, according to the footage released by DPS. Officers are seen running from a Walmart after an employee reported suspected shoplifters fleeing the store.
Body camera audio captured officers shouting, “Stop the car,” before gunfire erupted. Authorities said three shots, all fired by Foster, struck the vehicle. The driver was wounded, while Wiley, who was in his mother, Vellesiya Wiley’s, arms in the front passenger seat, was fatally shot.
Foster’s lawyer, his client had “no choice” but to shoot at the car since it was going to hit him, NBC News reported, according to Martin Zummach. He further noted that “the investigation and findings contradict the false narrative that has been spread the last 4 months.”
