What does "justified" mean to a grandmother who watched the video?

The footage is difficult to watch, and that difficulty is the point. On Thursday, Mississippi authorities released body camera video showing the moments before and after a Senatobia police officer fired into a moving vehicle in a Walmart parking lot on June 14, killing a one-year-old boy named Kohen Wiley. The child was on his mother's lap when the shots were fired. The state's attorney general has determined the officer's use of force was justified. The family, having now seen the video, says it was not .

The sequence, as captured by the officer's camera, begins with a Walmart employee directing officers toward two women suspected of shoplifting. Five law enforcement officers run toward the vehicle with guns drawn. The car reverses, crashes into a parked car, then pulls forward. The officer wearing the body camera raises his gun and aims at the moving vehicle as he runs closer, shouting "Stop!" As the car passes, he fires. The passenger-side window shatters. Four gunshots can be heard .

Kohen was struck in the ribcage. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The driver, a friend of Kohen's mother, was airlifted to another hospital in critical condition. Kohen's mother, Vellesiya Wiley, has denied that she and her friend stole diapers from the store, and neither has been charged with a crime in connection with the incident . Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the family, said the allegation of shoplifting "does not warrant the death" of a child. "Diapers are something a mother needs for a child. Diapers should never cost a baby their life" .

The officer who fired, Sgt. Hunter Foster, resigned from the Senatobia Police Department, according to Mayor Greg Graves . His attorney, Martin Zummach, has said the footage vindicates his client because the driver was attempting to hit the officers. "She came right at Hunter Foster and the other officer and he had to shoot his weapon," Zummach said. "The driver of the vehicle was attempting to kill those 5 officers" . Crump disputes this, saying the footage shows the fatal shot came from the side of the car, and an independent autopsy commissioned by the family reached the same conclusion .

The Mississippi Attorney General's Office announced earlier this week that its review found the shooting was a justified use of force. The family learned of the decision from reading the news, Kohen's grandmother Veronica Roberson said. "The word 'justified' has haunted me," she said at a news conference. "There's no justification for that" . LaSandra Williams, another grandmother, said after watching the footage, "I'm having a difficult time understanding the word, 'justified'" .

The release of the video has sparked protests and vigils in Mississippi. The family's legal team has called for a federal investigation. Kohen would have celebrated his second birthday in early November . The Walmart parking lot where he died has resumed its ordinary function, but the footage released this week ensures that the moments of June 14 will remain visible, available to be watched and rewatched, argued over and mourned, for as long as the case remains open.

The investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has concluded. The attorney general's decision stands. The family's call for federal review is pending. Kohen Wiley is dead, and the question of whether his death was justified is one that the law has answered in one way and his family in another.

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AI Image Disclaimer: The images accompanying this report are AI-generated and do not depict the actual footage or individuals involved.

Sources: Associated Press, BBC, Mississippi Attorney General's Office, CGTN