Mississippi authorities have ruled that a police officer was justified in opening fire on a moving vehicle, killing a one-year-old boy and critically injuring the driver, despite the family disputing the official account of the shooting.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the finding in a statement released on Monday, October 19.
“In this incident, the Attorney General’s Office found the use of force was justified,” Fitch said.
The ruling stems from a June 14 incident outside a Walmart store in Senatobia, where officers were responding to reports of stolen baby supplies, according to US media reports.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said officers confronted two women and a child approaching a car. Investigators said the driver, Latoya Ferrell, steered the vehicle towards an officer, prompting him to open fire.
One-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was sitting on his mother’s lap, was fatally struck, while Ferrell was critically injured.
However, Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, disputes the official account, denying that any theft occurred. She said she lifted her son to show officers that he was inside the vehicle before shots were fired.
Neither Wiley nor Ferrell has been charged with a crime.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the family, challenged the state’s findings and demanded the immediate release of all body-camera and security footage from the incident.
Crump questioned how the public could accept the ruling when neither the family nor the public had been allowed to see the video evidence.
An attorney representing the officer defended his actions, arguing that Ferrell attempted to run the officer over, leaving him with no alternative but to fire.
The shooting sparked local protests, with community members alleging that racial bias played a role in the incident. Kohen and the two women in the vehicle are Black, while the officer who fired the shots is white.
In a separate development following the shooting, the city fired its police chief after internal records revealed that he had used racial slurs in text messages.
State officials have not said whether footage of the fatal encounter will be made public.