Key takeaways:
- Senatobia’s board of aldermen accepted Hunter Foster’s resignation on 21 October, effective immediately.
- Foster fired three shots at a vehicle outside a Walmart on 14 June, killing 1-year-old Kohen Wiley and injuring the driver.
- Mississippi’s attorney general called the shooting justified, while Kohen’s family is seeking a federal investigation and Foster’s decertification.
A Mississippi police officer who shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside a Walmart has resigned, days after the state attorney general said his use of force was justified.
Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves confirmed Hunter Foster’s resignation to CBS News. The city’s board of aldermen accepted it on 21 October, effective immediately, The Guardian reported. Foster had been on leave since 16 June, two days after the shooting.
The shooting followed a report of suspected shoplifting at the Walmart in Senatobia. Officers were already at the store on an unrelated call, according to CBS News. The Guardian reported that body-camera footage shows Foster running out of the store with other officers after an employee said suspected shoplifters were fleeing.
Officials have alleged that Kohen’s mother and a friend stole diapers, but neither woman has been charged, The Guardian reported. Kohen was in a vehicle with his mother and another woman when officers approached it in the parking lot. They shouted for the moving vehicle to stop, CBS News reported. Foster fired when it did not stop.
According to The Guardian, footage released by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety shows Foster aiming his gun at the vehicle within seconds of leaving the store. Several officers drew their guns, but Foster fired all three shots. He injured the driver and killed Kohen, who died in his mother’s arms.
Foster’s lawyer has said the officer had no choice because the car was moving toward him, CBS News reported. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced earlier in the week that the shooting was “justified.”
Kohen’s family disputes that conclusion. At a Thursday press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, called for a federal investigation and for Foster to be decertified, which would prevent him from serving as a police officer elsewhere, The Guardian reported.
“The bullet that killed Kohen Wiley was not justified,” Crump said. “This decision sends a message that a Black baby boy, his life, is not as valuable as the white diapers that he is wrapped in.”
Kohen would have turned 2 on 1 November.
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