Mississippi releases bodycam video of fatal police shooting of toddler

Mississippi authorities have released body camera footage showing a police officer fatally shooting one-year-old Kohen Wiley while responding to a shoplifting report at a Walmart car park in Senatobia on 14 June, the BBC reports.

The footage, released on Thursday, shows five officers running towards the car with guns drawn. The vehicle reverses, hits a parked car, then moves forward. The officer wearing the camera shouts “Stop!” and fires as the car passes, shattering the passenger-side window. Four gunshots are heard. Kohen was on his mother Vellesiya Wiley’s lap in the moving vehicle. She denies stealing nappies, and no charges have been filed against her.

Mississippi’s attorney general found the force justified. Officer’s lawyer Martin Zummach said: “The driver of the vehicle was attempting to kill those 5 officers.” Family lawyer Ben Crump called the response “excessive from the very start”. Mayor Greg Graves told CBS that officer Hunter Foster had resigned. Protests and vigils have since been held in Mississippi.