Police officer who shot and killed 1-year-old resigns

A Mississippi police officer who shot into a moving car and killed a 1-year-old boy outside a Walmart in June has resigned, the mayor of Senatobia confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

Mayor Greg Graves confirmed that Hunter Foster resigned.

Foster’s resignation comes after the Mississippi attorney general’s office announced Monday that the use of force was justified in the June shooting that stemmed from a response to an alleged shoplifting incident.

Officers and Tate County sheriff’s deputies responding to the incident were already at the Walmart for an unrelated call. They approached a moving car in the parking lot and yelled for it to stop. When the car didn’t stop, Foster opened fire on the car.

Body camera footage from the incident shows the car back up and hit a parked car as the law enforcement officers converged on the vehicle with their guns drawn.

When the car moves forward, Foster is seen moving out of the way as he puts one hand down on the hood as gunshots from his weapon ring out. The front passenger window of the car then shatters, and the car drives away.

One-year-old Kohen Wiley was in the car and died in the shooting.

Foster’s lawyer, Martin Zummach, has said his client had no choice because the car was moving at him. In a statement Friday, Zummach accused the car’s driver, who hasn’t been charged in the incident, of attempting to kill the officers.

“Hunter Foster had no choice but to discharge his weapon. We are very sad for the loss of life,” Zummach said.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family, said in response to news of Foster’s resignation that he is calling on the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the shooting.

“Accountability can’t end here. Body camera footage shows how quickly this escalated over an alleged shoplifting call,” Crump said on social media.