Overview
- The Senatobia Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to fire Police Chief Harold Vanderford after rejecting a resignation letter, a move the board carried out on Tuesday.
- Reporting by The New York Times, Mississippi Today and Verite News said private texts tied to Vanderford repeatedly used a racial slur and degrading language toward Black people.
- The firing comes as the city remains under scrutiny for a June 14 Walmart parking-lot shooting that killed 1‑year‑old Kohen Wiley; the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is leading that probe and has not released body‑camera or surveillance video.
- Advocates and the Wiley family, represented by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, said removing the chief was the right step but demanded the MBI release footage and full answers about the child's death.
- The board’s reversal follows an Aug. 25 statement that had expressed confidence in Vanderford, and the episode has deepened local political tensions and calls for greater transparency and oversight of the police department.