7 min read
Major Takeaways
- The family of Kohen Wiley viewed the shooting video on Thursday morning in Senatobia.
- Attorney Ben Crump called the police response excessive from the very start.
- The state ruled this week that the officer who fired used justified force.
- Five videos are now public, and questions about the encounter remain unanswered.
The family of Kohen Wiley has now seen the video of the June shooting that killed him.
On Thursday the family viewed three body camera videos from Senatobia officers.
They also watched two Walmart surveillance videos from that day.
Hours later they stood in Senatobia beside attorney Ben Crump.
Attorney Van Turner also stood with the family at the podium.
It was their first public response in their own words.
The response came days after the state cleared the officer.
Urban City Podcast reported the state ruling in our earlier coverage of the Kohen Wiley case.
Kohen Wiley Family Rejects the State Ruling in Senatobia
Crump told reporters the family made clear observations from the video.
“We have made these observations: That this was excessive from the very start.”
“I mean, they came out with guns drawn for a shoplifting misdemeanor?” Crump said.
“Shoplifting diapers is a misdemeanor. It does not warrant the death penalty.”
Crump closed his remarks with a plea beyond this one case.
“We must have more empathy for human life, America,” he said.
The office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced its decision on Monday.
The office found the use of force was justified.
The review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
The decision means the officer will face no criminal charges.
The state also found too little evidence of criminal wrongdoing for a grand jury.
Fitch called the loss of the child very tragic.
She said her office looks at the law and the facts.
She said the office then makes a determination based on that.
What the Public Video Shows and What It Leaves Out
Five videos from the June 14 shooting are now public.
The footage shows officers inside the store as an employee raises an alert.
Two women then run toward a gray sedan in the parking lot.
Vellesiya Wiley carries her young son in her arms.
Latoya Ferrell gets behind the wheel of the sedan.
Wiley climbs into the passenger seat while holding Kohen.
Officers race toward the car with guns drawn.
They repeatedly order the driver to stop.
The sedan backs out and strikes a parked vehicle.
It then moves forward toward officers standing nearby.
The footage appears to show the car striking an officer.
Shots are then fired as the car moves between officers.
One officer appears to fire more shots while standing beside the car.
The public footage holds one major gap, though.
It does not include video from the officer who fired the fatal shots.
That gap makes it unclear exactly which shots struck Kohen.
Audio from after the shooting captures another painful detail.
One officer is heard saying he never saw a baby in the car.
Officer Hunter Foster also told another officer he could not see a baby inside.
Foster stood in front of the moving vehicle that day.
He opened fire on the passenger side of the car.
The June Day That Changed a Family Forever
Kohen was killed on June 14 in the Senatobia Walmart parking lot.
Senatobia sits about 40 miles south of Memphis.
Officers had responded to a shoplifting call about diapers.
Some accounts of the call also mention baby clothes.
Kohen sat on his mother’s lap in the front passenger seat.
An officer opened fire on the vehicle as it left.
Kohen died from his injuries at a local hospital.
Ferrell, who was driving, was seriously wounded.
Wiley has said she tried to show officers her baby.
“I raised my baby up trying to show them that he was in the car,” she said.
She said three or four shots followed in seconds.
One shot hit Kohen in his ribcage, she said.
Other shots hit Ferrell in her arm and her thigh.
Wiley has also spoken about the depth of her loss.
“I watched my baby take his first breath, and I watched my baby take his last breath,” she said.
A preliminary independent autopsy for the family ruled the death a homicide.
The family attorneys say evidence suggests Kohen was shot from the side.
That reading raises questions about whether the officer faced immediate danger.
State investigators gave a different account from the start.
They alleged the driver drove toward officers and almost struck one.
A Department Already Under a Cloud in Senatobia
Thursday words from the family landed on ground already shaken.
Neither woman in the car has been charged with a crime.
Officials have released no public evidence that shoplifting took place.
The Senatobia Police Department has faced a string of controversies.
The city fired Police Chief Harold Vanderford last month.
Reporting exposed racist slurs in his text messages.
Urban City Podcast covered the scrutiny of the former Senatobia police chief this summer.
Crump has pointed to another complaint facing Foster.
The complaint alleged a racially offensive remark days before the shooting.
Foster was placed on administrative leave after the shooting.
Residents marched in Senatobia on June 26 to demand accountability.
That mistrust shapes how Black residents hear the state ruling.
A one paragraph state statement cannot rebuild trust on its own.
Why This Case Hits Black Mississippi So Hard
For Black parents, this story cuts to the bone.
A routine trip to a store ended with a baby gone.
The allegation at the center of it all was diapers.
That fact alone fuels anger across Mississippi and beyond.
Black families know how fast a minor call can escalate.
They also know how rarely answers arrive with speed.
Kohen family waited months just to view the footage.
His grandmother learned the state decision through social media reports.
Family members said state officials never notified them directly.
That silence deepened the wound this week in Senatobia.
What Happens Next for the Wiley Family
The verified footage was expected to be released on Thursday.
Versions of the video leaked earlier this week and spread online.
State public safety officials planned to meet the family this week.
Officials said the public release would follow that meeting.
It remains unclear whether the family plans legal action.
Crump’s involvement signals the family intends to keep pressing the case.
“If the footage supports the state decision, release it,” Crump said on Monday.
“We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.”
The criminal case is closed, but the public fight is not.
Department policy questions also remain open for the city.
So do possible civil claims on behalf of the family.
For now, a mother’s grief stands at the center of Senatobia.
Follow continuing coverage in Urban City Podcast News.
