BREAKING: Mississippi AG Finds Police Shooting That Killed 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley ‘Justified’; Family Demands Video

By Dennis Byron | Hip Hop Enquirer
October 20, 2026

SENATOBIA, Miss. — Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office has determined that an officer’s use of force in the shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was justified, declining prosecution in a case that has sparked months of demands for accountability. The City of Senatobia confirmed Monday that the state’s criminal case is closed.

The October 19 announcement follows a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the June 14 shooting outside a Senatobia Walmart. Kohen was inside a vehicle with his mother and another woman when an officer opened fire, killing the child and wounding the driver. Officers had responded to a shoplifting complaint.

State investigators alleged that the driver drove toward officers and nearly struck one, prompting the shooting. But Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, disputes that account. She has denied that either woman stole merchandise and said the driver was moving away from officers. Neither woman had been charged, according to reporting published Monday.

Wiley has also said she lifted Kohen to show officers that a baby was inside the vehicle before the gunfire. Her account places the child in her arms during the encounter.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, sharply challenged the state’s conclusion and renewed demands for the release of body-camera and surveillance recordings.

“If the footage supports the state’s decision, release it,” Crump said in a statement.

Crump has argued that findings from a preliminary independent autopsy indicating Kohen was shot from the side undermine the police account. That remains the family’s interpretation of the evidence; the publicly available reporting does not independently establish the positions of every officer when shots were fired.

The officer’s attorney, Martin Zummach, defended his client, telling The Associated Press that the shooting was necessary to protect officers and that the attorney general’s findings cleared his client of criminal wrongdoing.

At the time of Monday’s announcement, the body-camera and Walmart surveillance recordings had not been publicly released. The Mississippi Free Press reported that a Department of Public Safety spokesperson said footage would be provided to media organizations through public-records requests. No specific release date was identified in that report.

The state has announced its conclusion. Kohen’s family continues to demand access to the evidence behind it.