For months, the residents of Senatobia, Mississippi, have waited with a mix of dread and anticipation for state authorities to decide what, if anything, they plan to do about the killing of Kohen Wiley.
asserted
they → wait → Wiley
Ever since the 1-year-old child was shot by a white police officer outside a local Walmart in June, organizers have held protests and press conferences outside the town’s city hall, to call for accountability — or even a simple acknowledgment — for the loss of the Black toddler.
asserted
organizers → shoot → toddler
On Monday, Senatobia residents got their answer: Officials plan to do nothing.
asserted
Officials → get → nothing
“In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified,” Republican Mississippi AG Lynn Fitch announced in a three-sentence news release posted on her official website.
asserted
Fitch → find → website
The announcement was met with anguish and outrage from people inside and outside the state.
asserted
announcement → meet → state
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus demanded further answers.
asserted
Caucus → demand → answers
“Kohen Wiley was a baby,” said state Rep. Kabir Karriem, who chairs the MLBC.
asserted
who → say → MLBC
“He posed no threat.
asserted
He → pose → threat
He deserved protection, and he deserved a future.
asserted
he → deserve → future
His family is owed more than a conclusion. …
asserted
family → owe → conclusion
Announcing that a review is complete does not fulfill the responsibility to explain how a police encounter ended with a baby dead.”
asserted
encounter → announce → baby
The attorney general’s decision followed a probe into the case by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which was “responsible for conducting a thorough and impartial investigation,” as Mississippi Department of Public Safety Press Secretary Alex Gibert wrote to The Intercept on Tuesday.
asserted
Gibert → follow → Tuesday
The email said that the probe “remains open and active.”
asserted
probe → say → ?
But in a subsequent phone call, Gibert said that the investigation “involving the officer is closed.”
asserted
investigation → say → officer
Gibert reiterated what the agency has previously said: that body camera footage and other investigative materials will be made available through public records requests.
asserted
footage → reiterate → requests
But she added that nothing will be released until after officials meet with Wiley’s family.
asserted
officials → add → family
“We are meeting with the family later this week,” she said.
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she → meet → family
As recently as Monday, however, the family maintained they had received no communication from the state.
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they → maintain → state
Kohen’s grandmother, Veronica Roberson, told Mississippi Today that she found out about the attorney general’s decision on Facebook and that no one had reached out.
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one → tell → Facebook
The outlet also reported last month that, although the investigation was complete and on the attorney general’s desk as of mid-September, no one had interviewed Kohen’s mother, Vel’lesiya Wiley, who was holding her child in her lap when he was shot dead by police.
asserted
he → report → police
This called into question whether the investigation is as “thorough” as authorities have claimed.
asserted
authorities → call → question
Asked by The Intercept whether the MBI investigation sought to interview Wiley, Gibert said she could not comment.
uncertain
she → ask → Wiley
The man who killed Baby Kohen, as the child is now known, was identified by the press as Senatobia Police Sgt. Hunter Foster, who fired his gun into the car where Wiley was riding in the passenger’s seat on June 14.
asserted
Wiley → kill → June
The exact circumstances that led to the shooting remain murky.
asserted
that → lead → shooting
Police said that officers responded to a shoplifting call at the Walmart; a two-page incident log released to The Intercept via a public records request contained no information about the shooting but noted that the items allegedly stolen were baby clothes and a pack of Pampers.
uncertain
items → say → Pampers
In a video posted on social media shortly after her child was killed, Wiley said she got into the passenger’s seat of the Ford Fusion after the driver, Latoya Ferrell, was stopped on her way out of the store.
asserted
driver → post → store
Police accused the women of trying to flee; according to Wiley, when she saw officers approach with guns drawn, she said, “I raised my baby up” to warn that he was in the car.
uncertain
he → accuse → car
Then the police shot him.
asserted
police → shoot → him
Ferrell was also struck and was hospitalized, but survived.
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Ferrell → strike → ?
The Senatobia Police Department immediately claimed that the car drove toward police, almost hitting them — an account swiftly echoed by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
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car → claim → Investigation
But to date, officials have released no evidence to support this account.
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officials → release → account
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who took the family’s case, hired an outside pathologist to do an external examination of the child and to review visual evidence.
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who → take → evidence
In July, the medical examiner concluded, based on the appearance of the injuries and path of the fatal bullet, that the officer shot the baby from the side of the car, undermining the police’s version of events.
asserted
officer → conclude → events
The announcement by the attorney general has renewed long-standing calls for video to be released.
asserted
video → renew → calls
In a press conference held earlier this month, local activist Patrick Lumumba of the Senatobia Committee for Accountability and Transparency accused the state of tailoring its investigation to support a lie — that Wiley and Ferrell deliberately sought to strike Foster with the car.
asserted
Wiley → hold → car
“If video footage would prove that, they would have released it the next day,” he said.
asserted
he → prove → it
The killing of Kohen Wiley drew national attention to Senatobia, a small city just south of Memphis, Tennessee.
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killing → draw → Memphis
City leaders mostly refused to address the killing, save for a brief, scripted video released by Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves a few days after the shooting.
asserted
leaders → refuse → shooting
By the time Kohen’s family laid him to rest in late June, the police narrative had prompted many inside and outside Senatobia to blame Kohen’s mother for his death, with rumors suggesting that, rather than charge the police officer, authorities would charge the mother and driver.
asserted
authorities → lay → mother
The child’s death followed years of warnings by Black residents over the police’s treatment of adults and children alike.
asserted
death → follow → adults
…and 55 more, not listed.
The Aporia
