Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch has ruled that the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of one-year-old Kohen Wiley was justified in using force, a decision that has renewed calls from the toddler’s family for the release of video evidence.
Fitch’s office announced the conclusion of its review of the June 14, 2026, incident in Senatobia, Mississippi, following an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI).
“ In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified,” Fitch said in a statement, citing Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code.
The decision comes after months of public calls for accountability over Kohen’s death. His family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, has questioned the investigation and called for the release of police body-camera recordings and Walmart surveillance footage.
According to the police account, Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting report at a local Walmart in June. Authorities alleged that Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, was carrying her son as she and a family friend left the store, entered a vehicle and began driving away. Wiley was accused of stealing diapers and baby clothes, according to the report.
Neither Wiley nor her friend was charged with shoplifting.
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety has not released surveillance footage of the shooting or the officers’ body-camera video. The only publicly available footage described in the report was recorded by a bystander shortly after the shooting. It did not show the shots being fired at the vehicle or the vehicle moving toward officers.
The absence of that footage has become a central issue for the family.
Earlier this month, Wiley said the MBI did not interview her during its investigation. Kohen’s grandmother reportedly learned about Fitch’s decision through Facebook, and the family said neither state nor local law enforcement officials had contacted them directly about the ruling.
Crump has challenged the decision, arguing that the public cannot fully assess the state’s conclusion without seeing the evidence.
“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,” Crump said in a news release. He called on authorities to release the footage, adding that the family would continue seeking answers.
The case has also drawn scrutiny because of concerns surrounding the Senatobia Police Department. The city’s Board of Aldermen unanimously fired former police chief Harold Vanderford after multiple media outlets reported that he had used racial slurs in private text messages. An officer involved in the Kohen Wiley shooting had also faced a complaint alleging a racially offensive remark two days before the shooting, according to Crump.
Those issues have intensified the family’s calls for transparency, although they do not, by themselves, establish whether the officer’s use of force was lawful.
The attorney general’s ruling concludes the state-level review described in the announcement. The family’s demand for the release of the footage, however, remains unresolved in the supplied report.
