Police Officer Hunter Foster Resigns After Fatal Shooting of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley

A Mississippi police officer who fatally shot a 1-year-old boy during an encounter outside a Walmart has resigned, days after authorities released body-camera footage showing the moments leading up to the child’s death.

Sergeant Hunter Foster, 33, resigned from the Senatobia Police Department on Friday, October 23, 2026, Mayor Greg Graves confirmed to The Associated Press. The resignation came after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office concluded that Foster’s use of force was justified and cleared him of criminal wrongdoing earlier in the week.

The shooting occurred on June 14 in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia, approximately 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Officers were responding to a report involving suspected shoplifting when they approached a vehicle occupied by Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, her friend Latoya Ferrell, and the child.

Video footage shows the vehicle reversing and striking a parked car before moving forward as officers shouted for the driver to stop. Foster, who was standing in front of the vehicle, fired his weapon through the passenger-side window, where Kohen was sitting on his mother’s lap. The child was fatally shot, and Ferrell was also wounded.

Authorities said the driver moved the vehicle toward officers, nearly striking one of them. Foster’s attorney, Martin Zummach, has maintained that the officer had no choice but to fire because the vehicle was moving toward him.

However, the family disputes that account. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Kohen’s relatives, said the footage and an independent autopsy commissioned by the family raise questions about whether Foster faced an imminent threat when he fired. The family is calling for a federal investigation into the shooting.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s decision not to pursue criminal charges has not ended the dispute over the shooting. Crump described Foster’s resignation as insufficient accountability and said the family would continue seeking answers.

Foster remains certified as a law enforcement officer in Mississippi, according to a state public safety spokesperson. The family’s legal team has called for his decertification, which would prevent him from serving as a police officer in the state.

Kohen would have celebrated his second birthday in early November. His death has left his family demanding further scrutiny of the split-second encounter and the decisions that led to the fatal shooting.

Although the state has ruled the use of force justified, the family continues to challenge that conclusion. A possible federal investigation could bring further examination of the incident and the evidence captured on video.

Source:  DAILYMAIL