“Justified”: The Killing of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley and the Oct. 22 Protest It Ignited
On Monday, October 19, the state of Mississippi announced its answer to the killing of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley. In a three-sentence news release, Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office declared that the Senatobia police officer who fired into a car carrying the toddler had been “justified” in using deadly force. No prosecution. Case closed.
The decision landed like a match in dry grass. By Wednesday morning, organizers were announcing a National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality for Thursday, October 22 — with Kohen Wiley’s name at the top of the list of victims they say the system failed.
What happened to Kohen Wiley on June 14
Shortly after noon on June 14, Senatobia police responded to a Walmart over an alleged shoplifting report — diapers and baby clothes, according to investigators. Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was carrying her 1-year-old son as she and a friend, Latoya Ferrell, left the store and got into a car.
What happened next is disputed. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said the car moved toward officers, and Sgt. Hunter Foster opened fire. Vellesiya Wiley has said she was lifting her baby up to show the officers who was inside the vehicle — and she denies anyone drove at police on purpose. Bullets struck Kohen, killing him, and badly wounded Ferrell, who was driving.
Neither woman has been charged with shoplifting or any other crime connected to the alleged theft, according to court records cited in this week’s coverage.
The ruling on Kohen Wiley — and why the family rejects it
Fitch’s office said its review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and concluded the use of force was justified. The City of Senatobia released a statement saying the state’s criminal case “is now closed” while extending sympathy to Kohen’s family.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, is challenging the conclusion. He and attorney Van Turner point to an independent autopsy showing the bullet that killed Kohen entered through the side of the vehicle — not the front, as the official account of a car driving at officers would suggest. Crump is demanding the release of police body-camera footage and store surveillance video so the public can judge for itself.
The family’s anguish deepened with a report that state investigators never contacted them before closing the case.
The officer’s history is also under scrutiny. Records show Foster was named in an internal complaint just two days before the shooting over a racially offensive remark directed at a Black fellow officer. The department’s former police chief resigned after text messages laced with racial slurs came to light — the same department that once drew national condemnation for arresting a 10-year-old Black child for public urination.
“Kohen Wiley was a baby,” said state Rep. Kabir Karriem, who chairs the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus. “He posed no threat. He deserved protection, and he deserved a future. His family is owed more than a conclusion.”
Thursday’s protest: Newark and beyond
The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) will hold its National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality march and rally on Thursday, October 22, at 5:00 p.m., beginning at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #12 at 51 Rector Street in Newark, New Jersey, then marching to the Federal Building at 970 Broad Street.
“This demonstration is to demand an end to police brutality and to demand police accountability,” said POP chairman Lawrence Hamm. “Police brutality is worse today than it was six years ago when George Floyd was killed and people were clamoring for police reform. The clamor has died down, and there has been hardly any meaningful reform.”
The group’s demands include civilian complaint review boards with subpoena power, passage of the federal George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the BREATHE Act, and getting federal troops and ICE agents off city streets. Hamm said the protest starts at the FOP lodge because the organization went to court to block Newark’s civilian review board — and won at the state Supreme Court in 2020.
Speakers will include activists and family members of police brutality victims. Alongside New Jersey victims, Hamm named Kohen Wiley with Sonya Massey, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols, Jayland Walker, and U.S. Airman Roger Fortson among the cases driving people into the streets.
October 22 has been observed nationally as a day against police brutality since 1995 — this year marks the 31st anniversary, with actions planned in cities and towns across the country.
Kohen Wiley: a name already being chanted
Kohen Wiley’s name is not new to the movement. It was one of the four names chanted by students at Jackson State University’s Blackout rally this month, alongside Trey Reed, Tasia Fortune, and Jaylen Lewis – a sign of how the toddler’s killing has traveled from a Mississippi parking lot into a national student movement demanding justice.
What to watch now: whether Mississippi releases the body-camera and surveillance footage Crump is demanding, how Thursday’s demonstrations turn out across the country, and whether the outrage over a three-sentence “justified” ruling becomes the pressure that finally forces answers in Senatobia.
Sources: Black Star News; Mississippi Attorney General’s Office; Mississippi Free Press via Clear Press; reporting by The Intercept/IWPost, The Shade Room, ClutchPoints-style aggregation via Our Truth, YallKnowWhat, The Free Thought Project.