The brief statement from the office of Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the officer was “justified” in his “use of force” when he shot the baby, Kohen Wiley, in a Walmart parking lot on June 14. The statement did not mention Kohen by name or identify the officer involved in the shooting.
Local media outlet Action News 5 identified the officer as Hunter Foster based on a records request of officer-involved shootings.
The shooting occurred in Senatobia, a city of about 8,000 people in the northern part of the state, about 40 miles south of Memphis, after police responded to a shoplifting call. According to the statement initially released by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, two adults — later identified as Kohen’s mother and a family friend — and a “juvenile child,” referring to Kohen, fled the store and then drove toward officers at the scene, at which point one of the officers fired his gun.
But an independent autopsy released by the family’s legal team and reviewed by MS NOW found that the baby was shot through the side of his body, throwing into question the authorities’ claim that the car was driving toward police. At a press conference this summer, the family’s legal team displayed a photo of the passenger-side window of the vehicle almost entirely blown out.
Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said at a press conference earlier this year that the officer fired three to four shots — even after she held Kohen up to show them there was a baby in the car — and that one hit her son’s ribcage as she held him in the passenger seat. MS NOW could not reach Wiley for comment on Monday.
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney who represents the family, slammed the news from Fitch’s office on Monday, asking, “How can anyone accept that conclusion when Kohen’s family and the public still have not been allowed to see the body-camera footage?”
“If the footage supports the state’s decision, release it,” Crump continued. “We will not stop fighting until this family gets the truth.”
Mississippi Today and The New York Times previously reported that Foster allegedly made racist remarks toward two co-workers, one of whom is Black and the other of whom is white and has a child with a Black partner.
When MS NOW reached out to Martin Zummach, a lawyer the Times identified as representing Foster, he would not answer MS NOW’s questions about the case and hung up the phone.
Spokespeople for the attorney general’s office, the Senatobia Police Department and Senatobia Mayor Greg Graves did not respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment. Graves acknowledged the community’s “tremendous pain” in a video statement a few days after the killing.
At his funeral, Kohen was remembered as “goofy,” a fan of the cartoon character Bluey and a beloved baby with a family excited for his future, NBC News reported.
A Lindt afastou o presidente executivo após rever em baixa as previsões de vendas para 2026, num contexto de fraco desempenho na Europa. A fabricante suíça de chocolates junta-se a empresas como PayPal, Nestlé, Starbucks e Danone, que também substituíram os seus líderes perante resultados abaixo das expectativas e pressão dos investidores
On Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that 10,000 more seats under his signature free childcare for two-year-olds program will be covered in fall 2027. Under the expansion, all of the Bronx and Staten Island's school districts will be eligible.
"For far too many New York City families, the joy of welcoming a child comes with a terrifying set of questions: How will I afford child care? Will I need to give up my job? Will I be forced to leave the city I love?" Mamdani said in a statement. "Today, for 10,000 more families, we have an answer."
Those affordability questions loom large for urban parents around the country. Cities including New York have seen their under-five population fall since the onset of the pandemic.
Between April 2020 and July 2024, the population of children under five fell by 18% in New York City, per an analysis from the Economic Innovation Group. That population collapsed by 15% in San Francisco, 15% in Chicago's Cook County, and 14% in Los Angeles County over the same period. Lowering childcare costs, a key plank of Mamdani's platform, was one area where even CEOs agreed with the socialist.
In New York, families with kids under six were more than twice as likely to leave the city as families without younger children, according to a Fiscal Policy Institute analysis.
The share of two-year-olds in New York City's population fell as families fled the city during the pandemic, before rebounding somewhat in 2024 and 2025.
For parents still in the city, childcare costs for toddlers in care centers reached $23,400 annually in 2024, per an analysis from the comptroller's office. That means a New York family would have to earn at least $334,000 to pay only 7% of their family income for childcare, the federal definition of affordable.
The new 2-K program, which has reportedly faced implementation problems including funding and payment delays, initially targeted a handful of districts based on economic need and childcare demand.
Even as providers wrangle with funding issues and the program's rollout, children across the city recently started their first days in 2-K. At a Friends of Crown Heights center in Brooklyn, mother Jessica Arroyo said it meant "everything" to have her daughter accepted into 2-K.
"I can work in peace," Arroyo said. "She can learn, make new friends."
Are you a New Yorker or childcare provider involved with 2-K? Share your story with this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.
França atravessa um período de crescente incerteza. Os problemas económicos acumulam-se e encontrar soluções torna-se cada vez mais difícil. Mas até que ponto pode esta situação comprometer a estabilidade de uma das maiores economias europeias? Saiba mais, neste episódio do Economia dia a dia, podcast diário do Expresso
Mate Rimac fundou uma fabricante de desportivos elétricos, mas exclui um Bugatti 100% elétrico dos planos para a próxima década. Para o CEO, a mecânica, o som do motor e o trabalho artesanal fazem parte do que os clientes procuram num carro que custa milhões de euros
As the Iran War continues, gas prices remain high — a real strain for consumers.
The conflict has kept diesel, crude oil, and gas prices high; inflation is eating up pay hikes.
As America heads into midterms, it's a hard affordability position for President Donald Trump.
It's expensive out there: Gas prices have been stuck at over $4 a gallon for more days this year than any other. The war in Iran shows no signs of cooling off. Inflation is swallowing any raises you might have gotten at work.
It's a recipe for a challenging midterm cycle for President Donald Trump, who faces an affordability crisis at home that's not going away — and a far-away war that's only making costs go up.
The volatility surrounding the contested Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and gas transit waterway, has hit American consumers hard.
Since the Iran war first kicked off in February and the Strait was subsequently closed, gas and oil prices have skyrocketed. Diesel prices have hit record-breaking highs in recent weeks. That paints a dreary picture for Americans struggling with high costs, who likely won't feel any relief at the pump in the near future — especially as more potential military action looms.
Trump has highlighted the broader goals of the war and argued that the increase in gas prices would be transient. In an October 8 Truth Social post, he wrote, "a temporary increase in the price of Gasoline is a small price to pay for Iran not having a Nuclear Weapon."
While the US military has not carried out airstrikes against Iran directly in several months, it has kept a significant force presence in the Middle East, including more than a dozen warships, dozens of fighter jets, and thousands of sailors and Marines.
US forces in the region are maintaining a naval blockade against Iran, and since July, they have disabled four commercial ships that the Pentagon said were sailing in violation.
After the start of the war in February, crude oil prices soared and remain significantly higher than when Trump's second term began.
Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly ground to a halt early in the Iran war, severely disrupting a waterway that normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil supply. Shipments have since recovered substantially but remain below prewar levels.
The Trump administration said it aims to alleviate issues related to oil. "The President wants to see prices at the pump fall and continues to take historic measures to alleviate temporary disruptions as oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz approaches pre-conflict levels," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
Vessels carrying oil and other products have continued to take fire from both sides, putting more pressure on commerce traveling through the area. US forces have carried out additional strikes on Iranian-linked targets. The Pentagon said they have destroyed 10 tankers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, since July.
Meanwhile, several merchant ships have come under attack in and around the Strait of Hormuz this month, according to the Royal Navy-affiliated United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center. US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, has attributed some of these strikes to Iran.
The ripples of volatility in oil prices are showing up at the pump. Long gone are the days of gas stations touting below-$3 prices; prices are still hovering in the mid-$4 range. High gas prices are even tamping down spending among higher-income consumers, and soaring costs have led to a rise in "hypermilers" — drivers who try to optimize and gamify their habits to get the best value per gallon.
Diesel prices in the US have spiked even more, up to around $6.18 per gallon, an over $2.50 increase over the year, per the Energy Information Administration. In California, diesel is hovering over $8 a gallon.
Those fuel and energy strains are pushing up costs across the economy. Inflation as tracked by the consumer price index increased to 3.7% year-over-year in September — higher than economists expected. That was driven in large part by soaring gas and energy prices, with energy rising by 20.4% year-over-year and gas by 34.2% in the same period.
Higher inflation has put pressure on the Fed and bond markets. In September, the central bank raised rates for the first time in three years to try to combat rising prices, with one more hike potentially coming by year's end. The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards, has surged since the war began, from below 4% at the end of February to a high of 5.31% this month. The 30-year mortgage has risen nearly in lockstep, going from just under 6% to 7.5% during the eight-month conflict.
For everyday Americans, all of these international strains amount to what is, essentially, a pay cut. Wage growth remains slow and steady, but, over the past few months, rising prices have outpaced pay increases. Inflation-adjusted wages have slumped since the start of the war, and have given up nearly all their gains since the start of Trump's second term.
When asked for comment, the White House highlighted that by some measures, earnings are still outpacing inflation. "Under President Trump, private sector workers have seen their wages continue to outpace inflation, with average annual earnings growing by more than $600," said White House spokesperson Matthew Middleton.
And, with midterm season in full swing, affordability is on the ballot for many voters. The current economic situation shows no immediate signs of changing — another blow for Trump, who's been on a quest to bring down gas prices.
There are growing signs that the US could be preparing for fresh military action against Iran. Another aircraft carrier strike group is sailing across the Pacific and is expected to enter the Middle East.
The Trump administration is also facing a resurgence in attacks from the Houthis, a rebel group in Yemen. In recent weeks, the Iran-backed rebels have seized key territory along the Red Sea, allowing them to threaten the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another maritime chokepoint like Hormuz, and have ramped up missile strikes against Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis previously tormented Red Sea shipping, leading the Trump administration to launch a major bombing campaign last year that ended in a ceasefire. The rebels have since rearmed.
Any other disruptions there might be bad news for consumers, potentially bringing more price spikes across the many goods shipped through that chokepoint.
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