Marquell Bridges says the story the public’s been sold about what happened right before Senatobia Sgt. Hunter Foster shot and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley was a lie from the start. The Mississippi-based organizer and founder of the Building Bridges Coalition tells Zoe Alexandra and Rania Khalek police at Walmart were never responding to a shoplifting call, that no one in the car has been charged, and that Baby Kohen’s death is part of a long pattern of impunity for racist murder in Mississippi, from Emmett Till to the unsolved 2022 death of Rasheem Carter.
Bridges breaks down Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s ruling Foster was “justified” in opening fire, weeks after a Jackson County grand jury declined to bring charges in 18-year-old Nolan Wells’s death, saying it was “consistent with drowning.” As calls for justice for Nolan Wells and Kohen Wiley spread from HBCUs and campuses in the South to cities across the US, Bridges says families cannot expect justice from a system he argues still carries the deep racist roots of the Klan:
“Our governor, Tate Reeves, was seen in a picture with Confederate flags, at Nazi parties and in blackface,” Bridges says. “These people are the Klan …. The rest of the world moved forward, but nothing ever changed in Mississippi.”
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Rough transcript follows:
There’s two Black families in Mississippi dealing with horror, tragedy, and complete injustice, and two official verdicts that have come down to basically the same thing. Mississippi authorities are saying there’s nothing to see here, move on, don’t look too closely at these issues.
The first case involves 1-year-old Coen Whaley, who was sitting in his mother’s lap in a car in a Walmart parking lot in Senatobia when a white police officer, Hunter Foster, opened fire on the car. Foster was responding to a call that Whaley’s mother and her friend had stolen diapers. He shot at her car as she pulled out of a parking space. A bullet went through Coen’s side and killed him. Last week, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office ruled the shooting justified, despite Coen’s mother and several witnesses saying they were never interviewed. The state has not released body cam footage or the overhead video from the parking lot.
Days before the shooting, Hunter Foster was accused of making a racially offensive remark to a co-worker, and two earlier misconduct accusations against him have since come out. The Senatobia police chief, who took no action against him, was fired in September after it was revealed he routinely used racist slurs in private texts.
Then there’s Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college student who went on a 4th of July boat trip to Horn Island off the Gulf Coast. His body was found in the water days later. A grand jury declined to bring charges, saying the evidence was consistent with drowning, yet acknowledged bruising on the back of his head and said the cause of that injury remains uncertain. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family listed his manner of death as undetermined, and his family is demanding a federal investigation.
In both cases, the state has closed the book, but people are refusing to allow that. Students from high schools and HBCUs are taking to the streets. Joining us now is Marquelle Bridges, president and founder of the Building Bridges Coalition, who led the protest march in Senatobia back in June.
[Marquelle Bridges:]
Thank you for having me. How are you both doing?
We’re doing as well as can be. Really horrible stuff we’re going to be talking about here. We appreciate your time. I want to start with the fact that the state called this police murder of a 1-year-old justified. The mother wasn’t interviewed, and the public hasn’t seen the video. Coen’s grandmother said the word “justified” has haunted her since Monday. What was your reaction when the attorney general’s decision came down? What does it tell you about who the system in Mississippi and across the country was built to protect?
[Marquelle Bridges:]
First, I want to clear up something. Hunter Foster was never called for a call for Valecia Wiley or Latoya. He was there for a completely separate incident, a perp allegation. They were reviewing footage. He killed this baby simply because a Walmart worker said somebody’s running. Five police officers ran outside, and we know the result. He didn’t know anything. All he knew was it was two women and a baby. I want to clear that up. Valecia Wiley, Coen’s mother, is not accused of stealing anything. She hasn’t been charged with anything. We’ve been saying since day one, release the footage. They intentionally started the footage with them walking out the door to confuse people. If they started it in the store, you would see them at self-checkout paying for the diapers. It’s a lot of lies and false narratives started by the police. The initial statement was a lie. Tate County Sheriff’s Office said they were responding to a perp allegation. Senatobia Police tried to cover it up, saying they were responding to a shoplifting call. Walmart hasn’t pressed any charges. The police haven’t pressed any charges. They haven’t shown us any footage from inside Walmart. If they could show us these two Black women stealing, they would have done that day one. All of this is propaganda, just like the propaganda of her showing Hunter Foster that baby Coen was in the car in an attempt to get him not to shoot as her using the baby for a human shield. I just wanted to dispel some of these false narratives.
I appreciate you doing that because every single news article has opened the story with the narrative that there was a call about shoplifting. Even if there was shoplifting, it does not justify a police officer pulling out a gun and shooting somebody. Every article has opened with the narrative that there was a call about shoplifting. That’s incredible what you’re saying because you often see the media jumping in to put the police’s narrative first. Thank you for clarifying that. Can you talk about your reaction to the idea that the Attorney General of Mississippi has labeled a police killing of a 1-year-old as justified?
[Marquelle Bridges:]
The label of 20 unarmed killings of Black people by police in 2023 and 2024 as justified is telling. Lynn Fitch overturned the conviction for the officer who killed George Robinson. Dexter Wade’s mother lost her son and her brother, and she overturned Anthony Fox’s conviction and paid him $75. Lynn Fitch lives in a plantation bought from the Ku Klux Klan. There hasn’t been any justice in Mississippi. There hasn’t been a Democratic elected person since 1861 in reconstruction. Our governor, Tate Reeves, was seen with Confederate flags and at Nazi parties, and he’s pictured in blackface. These people are the Klan, and it’s been happening. Nothing’s new. Emmett Till’s killer ended up being Governor Phil Bryant. Carolyn Bryant’s grandson ended up being the governor of the state. Emmett Till never received justice. It’s a long history. It’s expected. The only difference with this situation is with Nolan and baby Coen, we’re just saying we’re not taking it anymore. We don’t expect anything from this corrupt injustice system. It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is disproportionately incarcerate people for slave labor. The 13th Amendment says no one can be treated like a slave unless incarcerated by the state. It’s no coincidence that Black people make up the majority of the prison system where you can still be treated like a slave. All of this is by design.
We’ve seen this with Karmello Cyrus Belton in South Carolina denied justice. We’ve seen it with Carmelo Anthony. You can’t even defend yourself. We’ve seen it with Breonna Taylor. You can’t even sleep in your bed. Ahmaud Arbery. You can’t even go jogging. This is not the first 10-year-old Jordan Hill. A racist ran over a 10-year-old on an ATV. He was drunk, high, and left the scene. An all-white jury in Mississippi found him not guilty for killing the 10-year-old boy. This has been going on. I’m grateful to God now, because of hard work and a lot of these families retaining Ben Crump and the national attention he brings. Now people know about things we’ve been begging for help and crying out for change. Thank you for covering this and shedding light on what’s really going on.
This past summer, the spate of racist killings, whether by police or in suspicious circumstances, has really grabbed national attention. We want to talk about the Nolan Wells case and this ruling of drowning. The grand jury says nothing to see here, this was a drowning, case closed. There’s a lot of evidence that points to the contrary. Can you talk about this demand for an investigation? What would justice look like in this case?
[Marquelle Bridges:]
That’s a better question for his parents and his family, but nobody has ever drowned with no water in their lungs and no water in their stomach. Bruising to the back of the head, bruising over his body, keeping his cell phone, all kinds of strange behavior. None of those boys were his friends or acted like friends. I’m not going to speculate, but it’s pretty clear what happened. They know what happened. Will this be another Emmett Till? We’re still asking what happened to Nolan Wells and Rasheem Carter in Mississippi. Rasheem was found decapitated in the KKK killing field with his parts in his mouth, and they said it was animals the same day he was found. This is Mississippi. If you get caught in a situation where you’re the only Black person, where the opportunity presents itself for you to be harmed, that’s what they’re going to do in these sundown towns. Mississippi has the largest and active Klan. It never stopped for us. The rest of the world moved forward. Nothing ever changed in Mississippi.
I think it’s important to highlight this because a lot of people in other parts of the country might be familiar with the history of some of the things you’re talking about, but they see it as history. People who aren’t living in places like Mississippi might not understand that there are people in charge like the ones you’re talking about. The system, as bad as it is across the country, is significantly worse in places where Jim Crow mentality and Confederate mentality are in charge. Can you talk about the movement against this? We’ve seen protests from students at high schools to HBCU campuses demanding justice in both of these cases. Why is this hitting a younger generation so hard, and what does the organizing look like on the ground?
[Marquelle Bridges:]
This is the generation of warriors. This is the generation that’s going to fight back. They’re not easily fooled, bought, and sold, and they’re not believing anyone’s lies. They have information at their fingertips from a very young age. They can clearly see the truth. They know that what’s been happening and what’s happening now is not working, and they’re demanding a change as they should be. On the ground, we’ve moved to the by any means necessary approach. I wanted to offer something while we were on the subject of Attorney General Lynn Fitch and why this is happening. Rasheem Carter happened in 2022. That wasn’t a long time ago. In Mississippi, our Attorney General is in charge of prosecuting all officer-involved shootings. That started in 2022. Tell me why she would seek to dismiss Jaylen Lewis’s case, who was shot in the head by Capitol Police, and the only reason it didn’t get thrown out is because the judge stopped her. This is all political. She’s running for governor. All of this is being done on purpose.
Before we let you go, can you talk about what’s next for the movement? Both families are calling for justice. There are still students organizing. What’s next? Is this going to be something you’re pressing for, like a federal investigation in the courts, or is this going to continue in the streets?
[Marquelle Bridges:]
What’s next? October 31st, there’s a vigil from 8:00 to 10:00 in Senatobia at City Hall for baby Coen. The next day, the organization SCAT is having a backpack giveaway and a celebration of life for his birthday in honor of baby Coen. That evening is going to be a block party celebrating his birthday. November 1st is the national mass protest for Nolan Wells. Ground Zero is going to have a mass march and rally. November 1st, Gulf Coast, Mississippi. November 2nd, we’ll be in Jackson, Mississippi at the Attorney General’s office.
To answer the latter part of your question, we don’t have any faith in this current administration. Day one, the orange man signed an executive order to stop the DOJ from investigating all civil rights violations. We stalled a lot of families waiting on justice, not just in Mississippi. We don’t have any faith in this administration. They’re not seeking to help. They’re prosecuting little kids who make jokes online about Trump. They’re not prosecuting any real crime like the Epstein files. They’re not prosecuting any real injustice like what’s going on in the Black and brown community and with women. They don’t care about women’s health. They don’t care about babies or anyone. They only care about profit. We don’t have any faith. We have to wait on the next administration and hopefully get something done because there is no statute of limitations on murder. Those are our only avenues: either put pressure on the Attorney General to send it to a grand jury or bring in a special prosecutor and allow the grand jury to decide whether it’s justified or not, and then seek federal intervention. But with Trump, I just don’t see that happening. God is in control.
We want to thank you for joining us to break all this down. We appreciate your analysis and all the work you’re doing. Hopefully, we can bring you back on again to continue to follow these developments. Thank you so much.
[Marquelle Bridges:]
Thank you so much, Justice for the Family Coalition.
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