A 23-year-old Black woman was fatally shot by Baltimore police yesterday afternoon after an hours-long standoff.
The Baltimore Sun reports that local police were serving arrest warrants on Korryn Gaines for allegedly failing to appear in court on separate counts of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. When officers arrived at Gaines’ apartment, they obtained a key from her landlord and found her, along with an unidentified man as well as a 1-year-old and 5-year-old.
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According to police reports, Gaines was sitting on the floor aiming a long gun at officers. The police officer reportedly retreated and spent hours in the hallway negotiating with Gaines, who they claim was making threatening remarks. At one point, the man attempted to flee the apartment with the 1-year-old child, but he was taken into police custody.
After nearly six hours, officers opened fire when Gaines reportedly said that she was going to kill them. She was fatally shot, and the 5-year-old boy was wounded in the crossfire. He’s expected to survive.
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“We are of course extremely upset at an event like this,” Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said yesterday at a news conference. “We do not like to be in a position of having to use lethal force, but this was a situation where our officers exercised patience for hours and hours…We are very relieved the child was not seriously injured.”
Gaines’ relatives say that she was a smart, “feisty” woman who was alway respectful.
“I’m in a surreal state of mind right now,” her twin brother, Jermaine Barnett, said to the Sun. “She was loved by everybody—I’m going to miss her, and I love her.”