How can any sensible human being with a beating heart bring themselves to say that shooting and killing a one-year-old baby is in any way justifiable? Apparently as far as the state of Mississippi is concerned, it is.

Earlier this summer, officers of the Senatobia Police Department responding to a call of suspected shoplifting opened fire on a vehicle occupied by two adults and one infant. Two occupants suffered gunshot wounds, with a one year old boy, identified as Kohen Wiley, dying from his injuries and his mother suffering non life threatening wounds that required hospitalization.

The shooting sparked outrage in the community and across the country, with protesters demanding justice for the slain infant. Justice, it seems, that will not come.

According to a statement released by the office of Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Monday:

Today, the Office of the Attorney General announced it has completed the review of a June 14, 2026 incident in Senatobia involving one officer with the Senatobia Police Department. In this incident, the Attorney General's Office found the use of force was justified. Pursuant to Section 45-1-6 of the Mississippi Code, the review followed an investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.

The City of Senatobia would also release the following statement,

The Mississippi Attorney General's Office has concluded its review of the June 14, 2026, officer-involved shooting in Senatobia, finding the use of force justified and declining prosecution. The state's criminal case is now closed.

The City of Senatobia continues to extend its deepest sympathy to Kohen Wiley's family and all those affected by this tragedy.

The shooting took place on June 14th of this year, in the parking lot of a Walmart in Tate County, Mississippi, about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. As The Free Thought Project reported at the time, at approximately 2:00 PM officers of the Senatobia Police Department and Tate County Sheriff's Department responded to a call of a potential shoplifter. Whereupon their arrival, reports allege the officers witnessed two women, the young boy's mother Vellesiya Wiley, and Latoya Ferrell, carrying a package of diapers and one year old Kohen Wiley to their vehicle.

A statement from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation at the time alleges that as the vehicle fled the scene it swerved towards officers, prompting them to discharge their weapon. This claim, however, remains unverified. In the months since the shooting video footage of the incident either in the form of police body camera footage, or surveillance footage from the parking lot, has yet to be released to the public.