In the early hours of 31 October, a fire broke out at the Senatobia police department in Mississippi, which has been embroiled in controversy recently after one of its officers shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old.
asserted
one → break → Wiley
Though the cause of the fire has not been reported, it is being investigated as arson by agents with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
asserted
it → report → Alcohol
In June, then Senatobia police sergeant Hunter Foster shot Kohen as he sat in his mother’s arms in a Walmart parking lot.
asserted
he → shoot → lot
Foster, who is white, was responding to a report of an alleged shoplifting; Kohen, his mother and the driver of the vehicle, are Black.
asserted
Kohen → respond → vehicle
An arrest tied to the fire was made on Monday, but no details about the person of interest have been released.
asserted
details → tie → interest
The Senatobia police department did not respond to a request for comment.
asserted
department → respond → comment
Shortly after Kohen was killed in June, activists and community members led protests, including one outside the Senatobia police department, in hopes of receiving answers about the shooting.
asserted
activists → kill → shooting
The Mississippi bureau of investigation, which investigated the shooting, alleged that the driver of the vehicle in which Kohen sat “drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one”.
asserted
Kohen → investigate → one
However, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Wiley family, released an independent autopsy that indicated Kohen was shot from the side of the car, not the front.
asserted
Kohen → represent → car
In mid-October, Lynn Fitch, Mississippi’s attorney general, announced in a statement that the shooting was “justified”.
asserted
shooting → announce → statement
Foster resigned from the police force shortly after Fitch’s statement.
asserted
Foster → resign → statement
“After what I’ve seen today, I’m having a difficult time understanding the word ‘justified’,” LaSandra Williams, Kohen’s paternal grandmother, said during a press conference Crump held about video footage of the shooting.
asserted
Crump → see → shooting
“I don’t understand how it’s OK for someone to take a sweet, innocent soul – Lord knows I miss him so much.”
asserted
I → understand → him
The shooting was just the most recent in a series of incidents involving Senatobia’s police force.
asserted
shooting → involve → force
The month prior to Fitch’s statement, Senatobia, which is about 40% Black, fired its police chief, who allegedly used racial slurs.
uncertain
who → fire → slurs
A year before Kohen was killed, at the same Walmart, an officer forced a Black woman from her car and pointed a stun gun at her in front of her children after she parked in a handicap space to wait for her grandmother, who was shopping in the store.
asserted
who → kill → store
The woman was driving a vehicle with a handicap parking tag.
asserted
woman → drive → tag
And in 2023, an officer arrested and placed in a cell a 10-year-old Black boy who had urinated in public.
asserted
who → arrest → public
The child was later sentenced to three months’ probation.
asserted
child → sentence → probation
Kohen would have turned two last weekend.
asserted
Kohen → turn → two
The Senatobia Committee for Accountability and Transparency, an activist group, organized a giveaway at the city’s community center to celebrate what would have been the toddler’s birthday.
asserted
what → organize → center
Families who attended received diapers, wipes, food and other items.
asserted
who → attend → diapers
The ongoing investigation into the fire is being handled by the U.S attorney general’s office of the northern district of Mississippi.
asserted
investigation → handle → Mississippi
The Aporia
