On Monday, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch ruled that the police shooting of 1-year-old boy Kohen Wiley was a "justified" use of force.
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shooting → rule → force
Kohen was fatally shot in June, outside of a Walmart, as cops investigated his mother and her friend for stealing diapers.
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cops → shoot → diapers
Fitch didn't explain the reasoning behind the decision or what evidence was considered in a case that has sparked national backlash.
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that → explain → backlash
According to a June 14 statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), officers from the Senatobia Police Department (SPD) and Tate County Sheriff's Office were responding to a shoplifting call when "officers encountered two subjects and a juvenile child fleeing from the store into a vehicle."
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officers → accord → vehicle
They "attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one," and the officer then "discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene."
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vehicle → attempt → scene
The family went to a local hospital, where 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was pronounced dead.
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Wiley → go → hospital
Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has a different version of events, which she outlined in a video on X following the tragedy.
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she → have → tragedy
She said that after police tried to stop her friend (the driver) outside the Walmart, Wiley continued to go to her car, saying the interaction had "nothing to do" with her.
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interaction → say → her
Once she got into the car, her friend arrived and began to back out of the parking spot.
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friend → get → spot
Then officers came over to the car, drawing their guns.
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officers → come → guns
She says that after she raised Kohen to show him to the officers and try to diffuse the situation, they opened fire.
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they → say → fire
"[The police] tried to say that [my friend] forcefully was trying to drive and hit them, but they was all on the right side, and she was driving towards the left…
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she → try → left
.They personally just shot at the car," she said.
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she → shoot → car
In the months since the incident, the family held several rallies, demanding justice for Kohen's death.
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family → hold → death
The tragedy of the shooting has been compounded by a lack of transparency from the SPD, as well as alleged expert analysis that counteracts the MBI's statement.
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that → compound → statement
According to reporting from Mississippi Today, Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who is representing the Wiley family, claims that an independent autopsy conducted by forensic pathologist Robert Mitchell indicates that the bullets entered through the front passenger door, rather than the windshield, suggesting that the officer wasn't in the vehicle's path when he discharged his gun.
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he → accord → gun
In response to Fitch's announcement on Monday, Crump released a statement asking, "How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen's family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?"
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family → release → footage
"If the footage supports the state's decision, release it.
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footage → support → it
We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth," he added.
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he → stop → truth
To this point, the SPD has declined to release the footage, saying it's standard procedure during an ongoing investigation.
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it → decline → investigation
Crump was also keen to point out complaints of racism in the SPD: "This is a department whose chief was fired after reports of racial slurs in his text messages, and whose officer faced a complaint alleging a racially offensive remark two days before he shot Kohen."
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he → point → Kohen
The SPD's chief at the time, Harold Vanderford, was unceremoniously fired after journalists from Mississippi Today, The New York Times, and Verite News revealed a slew of racist text messages he sent.
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he → fire → messages
According to reporting from Verite News, in one of the messages he said he "almost beat a nigger and white woman's ass a few minutes ago."
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he → accord → ass
Senatobia's Board of Aldermen rejected his attempted resignation and voted to fire him instead on September 1.
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Board → reject → September
Crump also cited a complaint filed by Officer Dexter Smith, who claimed that Sergeant Hunter Foster, the officer who shot Kohen referred to him as "a black motherfucker" on June 12, just two days before the incident.
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who → cite → incident
According to reporting from Mississippi Today, Smith's complaint states that he was filling out paperwork in the booking room when he heard Foster say, "Who is this Black motherfucker back there?" to his colleagues.
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Who → accord → colleagues
Smith claims to have had almost no relationship with Foster prior to the encounter.
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Smith → claim → encounter
It's hard not to feel outraged considering that this little boy lost his life over something as trivial as shoplifting—a misdemeanor in Mississippi that does not justify use of lethal force, as Reason's Joe Lancaster wrote in June—and for diapers no less.
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Lancaster → feel → diapers
With the bodycam footage yet to be released, all the public is left with is the state's word that the investigation found no wrongdoing.
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investigation → release → wrongdoing
Given the multiple instances of racism within the department, it shouldn't come as a surprise if the public isn't content to take them at their word.
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public → give → word
The Aporia
