Senatobia, Mississippi fires Police Chief Harold Vanderford after reports that he sent racist text messages. The move comes months after the city drew national attention for the fatal shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley during a Walmart incident.
Wiley, a Black child, is killed when a white officer shoots after responding to a shoplifting call, with officers firing into a vehicle and the toddler being fatally struck. Multiple outlets report that the city’s actions toward Vanderford follow allegations that he used racist slurs in messages toward Black people. ABC News and The Guardian link Vanderford to the same policing case, noting officers involved in the Wiley shooting.
According to The Guardian, Vanderford submitted a resignation letter that the city’s board of aldermen rejected, and aldermen vote unanimously to terminate him instead. Both outlets describe the firing as the result of the text-message allegations, without presenting a differing account of the underlying incident or the decision to remove him from office.
