Hunter Foster killed a baby and Mississippi called it justified

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · October 23, 2026

After Sgt. Hunter Foster shot and killed one-year-old Kohen Wiley over alleged diaper theft, Mississippi officials shielded him with a "justified" verdict that prioritizes police safety over Black lives.

Sgt. Hunter Foster killed a one-year-old boy in a Walmart parking lot. He did it while responding to a shoplifting call. The state of Mississippi then looked at the carnage and called it "justified." This is not a mistake of judgment or a tragic accident. It is a calculated act of state-sanctioned erasure. When the law decides that a toddler's life is worth less than a pack of diapers, the law is no longer a shield for the public. It is a weapon for the state.

The cost of a pack of diapers

The details are as lean and brutal as a foreclosure notice. On June 14, Hunter Foster fired three shots into a moving vehicle. One of those bullets killed Kohen Wiley. The boy died in the arms of his mother, Vellesiya Wiley. According to The Guardian, officials alleged the women stole diapers from Walmart. Neither woman has been charged with a crime.

This is the ledger of the American street. We have a system that treats a mother's need for diapers as a lethal threat. Ben Crump, the attorney for the family, said this decision sends a message that a Black baby boy, his life, is not as valuable as the white diapers that he is wrapped in. This is the same logic that drove the Death of George Floyd, where excessive force was used over a perceived minor offense.

The violence was not a mistake. It was a choice. NBC News reports that officers approached the car with guns drawn. Foster stepped in front of the vehicle. As the car turned away from him and he jumped out of the way, he fired. He shattered the front passenger window. That is where Kohen was sitting on his mother's lap.

The machinery of impunity

The state did not seek justice; it sought a cover story. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the shooting was "justified." This is the executive shield in action. By clearing Foster of criminal wrongdoing, Fitch’s office protected the Senatobia police department from accountability. This is a historical pattern where state-level power closes ranks around armed agents to deny justice to grieving families.

We saw this mechanism during the Ferguson unrest. State-sanctioned violence against Black bodies is routinely protected by "justified" legal frameworks that prioritize police officer safety over the lives of Black people. In Ferguson, the legal system closed ranks around the shooter. In Senatobia, the state did the same.

The timing of the transparency was also a slap in the face. The state released the body-camera and surveillance footage on October 23. This delayed release mirrors the Death of Breonna Taylor, where the public had to wait for video to see the truth. The Anchorage Daily News confirmed that the Senatobia board of aldermen accepted Foster's resignation on October 21. He walked away from the job, but he kept his license. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety confirmed Foster remained certified.

The myth of the split-second

The defense will tell you this was "muscle memory." Foster's attorney argued his client had "no choice" because the vehicle was moving. He claimed the brain cannot talk to the finger fast enough to stop. This is the strongest case the defense has: the "split-second decision" myth.

But the evidence destroys that narrative. An independent autopsy and video footage show the fatal shot came from the side of the car. Foster was not in the path of the vehicle when he fired the shot that killed the baby. A use-of-force expert noted that Foster used "really bad tactics." He argued that shoplifting accusations never justify "use of deadly force on a fleeing suspect."

When we hear about "muscle memory," we are hearing a justification for recklessness. It is the same excuse used in the Death of Tamir Rice, where lethal force was the immediate response to a perceived threat. In both cases, the vulnerability of a child was ignored in favor of an officer's instinct to kill. Ben Crump stated plainly that "the bullet that killed Kohen Wiley was not justified."

The state’s "justified" verdict is a lie told to protect a badge. It tells every mother in a zip code like the one I grew up in that her child is a target if she is suspected of a petty crime. It tells the officer that he can kill a baby and simply resign to avoid the consequences.

Justice would require the immediate decertification of Hunter Foster. It would require a criminal indictment for the killing of a child. Instead, we will likely see the same cycle of failure. The Department of Justice will probably decline a federal investigation, citing a high legal bar for "willfulness." Hunter Foster will likely secure a job at another agency, exploiting the state's failure to strip his certification. Finally, Senatobia taxpayers will likely foot a multi-million-dollar civil settlement while the men who pulled the trigger and signed the clearances face no personal loss. This is how the system works: the vulnerable pay in blood, and the taxpayers pay in cash, while the state keeps the shield.

Hunter Foster killed a baby and Mississippi called it justified

The cost of a pack of diapers

The machinery of impunity

The myth of the split-second

Sources