SENATOBIA, Miss. (Oct. 19, 2026) –– Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump is calling for the immediate release of body-camera and surveillance footage after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced it found an officer’s use of force was justified in the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley.
Infant Kohen was fatally shot June 14, 2026, while inside a vehicle outside a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, where officers had responded to a reported shoplifting incident involving diapers. Mississippi Bureau of Investigation records identify Senatobia Police Sgt. Hunter Foster as the subject of its investigation. He was placed on administrative leave following the shooting. According to Mississippi Today, Foster faced an internal complaint alleging he made a racially offensive remark toward a Black officer two days before Kohen’s death.
On Sept. 1, the Senatobia Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to fire Police Chief Harold Vanderford after The New York Times reported he repeatedly used racial slurs in text messages. Despite repeated calls for their release, body-camera and surveillance footage of the fatal encounter has not been provided to Kohen’s family.
Attorney Crump issued the following statement:
“A 1-year-old baby was shot and killed by a police officer, and now the state of Mississippi says that use of force was justified. How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen’s family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage? This is a department whose chief was fired after reports of racial slurs in his text messages, and whose officer faced a complaint alleging a racially offensive remark two days before he shot Kohen. If the footage supports the state’s decision, release it. We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.”
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Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit bencrump.com
