Police officer who shot and killed 1-year-old boy in Mississippi has resigned, Senatobia mayor says

The police officer who shot and killed a 1-year-old boy in Mississippi when he fired into a moving vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call has resigned, the Senatobia mayor told The Associated Press Friday.

Sgt. Hunter Foster had been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Mississippi Attorney General’s office earlier this week after its monthslong probe concluded his use of force had been justified.

On Thursday, the state released videos of the fatal shooting of Kohen Wiley, including Foster’s body-worn camera footage of the June 14 encounter in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee.

Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves confirmed Foster’s resignation Friday.

Foster’s attorney Martin Zummach declined to comment when reached Friday. Zummach has said Foster had ‘no choice’ but to fire his weapon at the vehicle because it was moving at him.

Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has disputed that her friend, who was driving, headed toward the officers.

Ben Crump, an attorney for Kohen’s family, said the footage shows the fatal shot came from the side of the car, disputing that Foster was in imminent danger. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family concluded the same. An image of the vehicle shows its shattered right front passenger window. The family’s legal team called for the federal government to investigate the shooting.

Van Turner, another attorney representing Kohen’s family, has called for Foster to be de-certified as a police officer.

“What we need is for him to be de-certified so that he’s not able to go to another police department and do the same thing,” Van Turner said during a news conference Thursday.

Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesperson Alex Gibert said Friday that Foster remained certified as a police officer.

Kohen would have celebrated his second birthday in early November.

The group of officers were at the Walmart store in response to an unrelated incident, according to a Mississippi Bureau of Investigation report. A Walmart employee then alerted them of two women running from the store.

The videos show Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, holding Kohen as she and her friend run across the parking lot and enter their vehicle. Five officers approach the parked car with guns drawn. The car reverses away and crashes into a parked vehicle nearby as officers yell for it to stop.

The vehicle then accelerates forward as Foster steps toward it, directly in front, with his gun drawn. The wheels turn away from him, and he appears to put his hands on the hood as he jumps out of the way. He fires his gun, shattering the window of the front passenger side, where Kohen was seated on his mother’s lap. The car continues to drive away.

Vellesiya Wiley has denied that she and her friend stole diapers from the store and they have not been charged, according to state and county court records.

Jack Brook, The Associated Press