In June, 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, a Black child, was shot in the chest by a Senatobia Police Department officer after the officer fired into a moving car. 127 days after the infant died, Mississippi AG Lynn Fitch’s office ruled the shooting justified. It’s one shooting in a series of incidents between the Black community and the Senatobia PD. From Kohen’s killing to the aggressive arrest of a 10-year-old Black child dnd a police chief texting using racist language, here are five of those incidents, explained.
1. Kohen’s Wiley’s Shooting Justified While Shoplifting Allegations Remain Unproven
Kohen was in his mother, Vellesiya Wiley’s, arms when she and a friend left a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, on June 14. Police were called on allegations of shoplifting baby items. They arrived as Wiley and the friend got into a car that the friend was driving. Senatobia Police Department officers claim the driver tried to “kill” them by driving into them. This alleged action prompted the officer to fire about three to four times at the vehicle, per Vellesiya. No surveillance footage from Walmart or police body cams has been released to support this. Also, photos of the vehicle show that the car was also shot at from the side.
Kohen died and the female driver was badly injured. Still, the shooting has gotten a pass from the Mississippi Attorney General. To this day, Vellesiya Wiley has never been charged with shoplifting and she has denied she was stealing. Ben Crump is working with the family to demand the release of the evidence supporting the shooting’s justification.
2. Kohen Wiley’s Shooter Previously Accused Of Using Racial Slurs
The month after Kohen Wiley’s death, reporting from Mississippi Today found that Sgt. Hunter Foster made racially offensive comments to coworkers. One internal complaint alleges he used a racial slur against a colleague two days before shooting at the car 1-year-old Wiley was in. Another complaint accuses Foster of making derogatory comments about a peer’s Black partner.
Also in 2019, before joining the Senatobia Police Department, he was employed by the Southaven PF. During that time, he was accused of falsifying his report and claiming a civilian tried to run another officer over. But surveillance evidence later showed that was not true. Instead, footage showed officers aggressively removing men from the car and striking them while on the ground. A lawsuit following that encounter was settled in 2022 for an undisclosed amount, per Mississippi Today.
RELATED: Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch Rules Police Shooting Of 1-Year-Old Kohen Wiley Justified
3. Senatobia Police Department Officer Yanks Black Woman From Car
Last year, a Senatobia officer threatened a Black woman with a Taser, pulling her from her car and onto the ground. The officer then arrested Breshari Faulkner after confronting her about parking in an accessible parking space on Mother’s Day 2025. She attempted to explain that she had dropped off her grandmother and could move her car. The officers asked for ID, and she ultimately gave in after asking to speak to a supervisor. When she refused to exit her car on the officer’s demand, they grabbed her arm, made threats and pulled her from the vehicle, causing her to fall to the ground while being arrested. Her children, ages 2 and 3, were in the back seat of the car.
Then, Breshari Faulkner was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and a handicap parking violation. At the time, the Senatobia Police Department said that “this incident could’ve very easily ended with a citation or even a warning until the actions of the suspect escalated this encounter.” Nine months after the incident, in which she thought she’d be killed, Faulkner told Nation of Change she signed a form confirming the dropped charges.
