City has seen months of outrage since officer killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley
Firefighters were dispatched to the Senatobia Police Department headquarters at 4:58 a.m. Saturday to respond to smoke in the building, the Senatobia Fire Department said in a statement. Crews were able to quickly knock out the fire. The statement offered no details on the damage.
It remained unclear Saturday what caused the fire and whether it was intentionally set. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the blaze along with local agencies.
The Associated Press reported that it had reached out to the Senatobia fire and police departments and the Tate County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
The blaze damaged a headquarters that has been at the center of community anger in Senatobia, a city of about 8,000 people that sits about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Memphis. The Police Department has drawn outrage from the community in recent months.
That anger followed a June shooting in which one of the department’s officers fired into a vehicle and killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley while investigating a shoplifting call at a Walmart.
Wiley, who was Black, was in the vehicle with his mother, who was unharmed, and her friend, who was seriously injured. The two women denied having stolen anything, and no charges have been filed against them.
In September, the police chief was fired after reporting by The New York Times, Mississippi Today and Verite News alleged that he used racist slurs in private text messages.
Earlier this month, the officer involved in the shooting resigned. He had been cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the Mississippi attorney general’s office, whose probe concluded that his use of force had been justified.