The New Orleans branch of the ATF announced Monday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the alleged arson of the Senatobia Police Department in Mississippi on Saturday.
According to the ATF, the individual was taken into custody in Huntsville, Alabama. The federal agency worked in conjunction with Huntsville police and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations.
Early Saturday morning, fire crews responded to a blaze at the Senatobia Police Department. No injuries were reported and investigators have yet to find a direct cause for the fire.
“This investigation remains active and ongoing with additional details to be released as they become available,” the ATF said in a statement.
Hours after the fire, members of the Senatobia community gathered for a supply giveaway one day before what would have been Kohen Wiley’s second birthday. The one-year-old was shot and killed in an incident involving Senatobia police earlier this summer. Wiley was in his mother’s lap inside a vehicle when officers arrived at the scene in response to a shoplifting call.
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch cleared Sgt. Hunter Foster of using excessive force in the shooting, but tensions remain between the community at large and the police department. In the aftermath, Foster resigned and Senatobia’s police chief was fired after multiple outlets reported his use of racial slurs in text messages.
On Monday, Wiley’s family members and activists gathered outside Fitch’s office, demanding answers and a conversation with Fitch. A spokesperson for Fitch, who has announced plans to run for governor in 2027, said she was not there.
“These people work for us. We pay their salaries. We vote. We put them in office, and our people have to understand that we have the power,” activist Marquell Bridges told Mississippi Today.
