SENATOBIA — Records reviewed by News Block show that one of the officers who responded to a June 14 shoplifting call at the Senatobia Walmart and was involved in the shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley previously faced accusations that he exaggerated a vehicle threat during a 2019 parking-lot incident in Southaven.
Past lawsuit alleged false report, surveillance contradicted claim
The officer, identified in court records as Hunter Foster, was among those named in a federal lawsuit stemming from a December 2019 confrontation at a Waffle House parking lot. According to the complaint, Foster wrote in a report that the driver of a vehicle had accelerated and “almost run over” another officer — an account that surveillance video submitted with the lawsuit did not support.
“almost running over”
The surveillance footage, according to court filings, showed no sign that the car drove toward or nearly struck any officers. The recordings did show several officers — not including Foster, the records say — forcibly removing men from the vehicle and striking them while they were on the ground. The lawsuit against Foster and about a dozen other officers was resolved with a settlement in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
Connection to June Walmart shooting
Foster is currently employed by the Senatobia Police Department and was among the officers who responded to the June 14 call at the Walmart. Authorities have said at least one officer opened fire on a vehicle and that the shooting struck and killed Kohen Wiley, who was 1 year old. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation released a statement on the day of the shooting asserting that officers had tried to stop the car and that “the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one.”
“the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one,”
Bailey Martin Holloway, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, which oversees the MBI, declined to provide the evidence supporting that assertion or to say whether it came from officers’ accounts or from MBI’s own review of video or other physical evidence.
What the records show and what remains unclear
Publicly available documents link Foster to both events: the 2019 Waffle House incident that prompted a federal suit and the June Walmart response. What remains unclear publicly is the full sequence of actions during the June 14 encounter and which officer or officers fired the shots that struck Kohen Wiley. The MBI typically leads investigations into officer-involved shootings; the department has not released a complete investigative record to date.
- 2019: Parking-lot incident at Waffle House in Southaven; alleged false report by Foster; federal lawsuit filed.
- 2022: Lawsuit involving Foster and multiple officers settled for an undisclosed amount.
- June 14, 2026: Shoplifting call at Senatobia Walmart; at least one officer fired on a vehicle; 1-year-old Kohen Wiley killed.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Officer named in records | Hunter Foster |
| 2019 incident location | Waffle House parking lot, Southaven |
| 2022 outcome | Federal lawsuit settled (amount undisclosed) |
| June 14 incident location | Walmart, Senatobia |
| Victim | Kohen Wiley, 1 year old |
Community questions about officer conduct and investigative transparency have increased since the fatal shooting. Families in Senatobia and the wider region have sought details about how the encounter unfolded and whether department policies and training were followed. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is the lead agency on the probe into the Walmart shooting; public updates have been limited to the initial statement and briefings.
As the investigation proceeds, residents and local officials will be watching for release of body-worn camera footage, surveillance video and the MBI’s final report to clarify what happened that day and what steps may follow administratively or legally.
— Jerome Patterson, Mississippi correspondent for News Block
