JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi's attorney general says a Senatobia officer was justified in using force when he responded to a shoplifting call and fired at a moving vehicle that investigators said was driving toward police, killing a 1-year-old boy who was inside the car.

The conclusion of the state's investigation into the shooting death of Kohen Wiley follows months of mourning and calls for justice, both nationally and in the small town where the shooting took place, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee.


The shooting occurred in mid-June as Senatobia officers responded to a shoplifting call at a Walmart, where they saw Vellesiya Wiley, Kohen's mother, carrying her son as she and a friend left the store, got into a car and began driving away. Wiley and her friend are both Black. Police believed they stole diapers and baby clothes. Kohen's mother has denied she or her friend stole anything, and neither of them have been charged with shoplifting or any other counts, according to online state and county court records.

According to a statement released shortly after the shooting by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the car drove toward law enforcement, prompting an officer to fire into the car, striking Kohen and his mother's friend.

Martin Zummach, an attorney who represents the officer who fired the shot that killed Kohen, says the attorney general's findings cleared his client of criminal wrongdoing. He said the driver of the vehicle  tried to kill  his client and other officers who were present.

 He had no choice but to fire his weapon,  Zummach told The Associated Press.

In a video released days after the shooting, Vellesiya Wiley disputed that her friend, who was driving, headed toward the officers.


Lawyer calls for release of body-worn camera footage

Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil rights attorney who is representing Kohen's family, has said results of a preliminary independent autopsy ind
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