Bradley K. Sperman
2016-08-14 02:01:56 UTC
Three officers with the Baltimore County police arrived at
Korryn Gainess apartment around 9:20 a.m. on Monday to serve
warrants to her as well as a man who also resided there.
The man was wanted on an assault charge, while Gaines, 23, had
an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court after a traffic
violation in March.
According to police, no one responded to 10 minutes of door
knocking, even though they could hear several people inside.
When officers obtained a key to the apartment, they found Gaines
sitting on the floor her 5-year-old son was wrapped in one of
her arms. In her other hand was a shotgun.
Around 3 p.m., after several hours of negotiation, police say
Gaines raised the gun at officers and told them that she would
kill them if they did not leave. The officers opened fire.
Perceiving not only her actions, but the words she used, we
discharged one round at her, in turn she fired several rounds
back at us, Police Chief Jim Johnson said during a news
conference on Monday night. We fired again at her, striking and
killing her. Tragically in this circumstance, the child that was
also in the dwelling was struck by a round.
The man being sought fled the home with a 1-year-old child, but
was later taken into custody, police said.
According to Johnson, it is unclear if there is any body camera
footage of the incident (the departments body camera program is
just several weeks old).
The shooting of Gaines and her son who police say had non-life-
threatening injuries quickly prompted national outrage among
activists who have protested police killings in recent years.
The recent shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,
followed by targeted slayings of police officers in Dallas and
Baton Rouge, renewed the national discussion of police use of
force and community distrust that has for two years been
propelled by the national Movement for Black Lives (often
referred to as the Black Lives Matter movement).
Protests have also been organized under the Say Her Name
banner, a subsidiary that seeks to bring attention to black
women who have been killed by police, who activists say are less
likely to receive the national media attention of black men who
have been killed.
Although Black women are routinely killed, raped, and beaten by
the police, their experiences are rarely foregrounded in popular
understandings of police brutality, said Kimberlé Crenshaw,
director of Columbia Law Schools Center for Intersectionality
and Social Policy Studies, in her Say Her Name report on black
women killed by the police issued last year. Yet, inclusion of
Black womens experiences in social movements, media narratives,
and policy demands around policing and police brutality is
critical to effectively combating racialized state violence for
Black communities and other communities of color.
Gaines is the ninth black woman shot and killed by police so far
in 2016, according to a Washington Post database tracking fatal
police shootings a number set to soon surpass 2015, when a
total of 10 black women were shot and killed by police.
Even though all but two of the women were armed, family members,
activists and videos have raised questions in nearly all of the
cases about whether the women were attacking officers when they
were killed. Still, before Gaines, none of the black women
killed by police this year had gained sustained national
attention.
Janet Wilson was the first black woman killed by police this
year, when she was shot and killed by officers in Dearborn,
Mich., as she drove away from a popular shopping center.
Wilsons sister recalls her as goofy, having an insatiable
appetite the Olive Garden was her favorite and as the
sibling prone to standing for hours in the mirror, lip-syncing
the words to R&B divas, most often Mariah Carey and Brandy.
She was always laughing and playing around, said Lori Wilson,
Janets sister. She just enjoyed living.
She had been distraught recently. About a year before she was
killed Wilsons boyfriend died of kidney disease. A few months
after that, Wilsons father passed away.
Wilson didnt like to discuss the deaths much, but her family
knew they were still weighing heavily on her. The morning of her
death, she called an aunt from the parking lot of a church she
had been attending she had arrived too early for Bible study
and had some free time and wanted to catch up. After worshiping,
Wilson decided to go to nearby Fairlane Mall.
Police have released little information about what transpired at
the mall. Vince Colella , an attorney for the Wilson family,
says that he thinks Wilson got into an argument with a
sunglasses vendor, and was escorted out of the mall by security.
Thats where it gets murky, Colella said.
Wilson walked to her car and drove out of the parking lot and
onto a service road. There, Dearborn police officers initiated a
traffic stop. Police have alleged that Wilson drove at police as
they approached her vehicle, prompting them to open fire.
Wilsons family questions that account.
Colella said the family has yet to be provided with dash camera
footage, which they believe will show the entirety of the
shooting.
An officer shot her through her front windshield and side
window, killing her, Colella said. This family wants justice.
The officer was not in danger. She was unarmed at the time, and
she did not commit any crime.
Wilson is an outlier among the black women shot and killed by
police this year in that she was unarmed. In seven of the other
eight cases, the woman killed was armed, and in most of them,
she was distraught. (The other unarmed black woman killed this
year was Jessica Williams, who was shot and killed in San
Francisco.)
The most clearly-captured shooting is that of Laronda Sweatt,
40, who was shot and killed in April as she approached an
officer with an ax.
Police said they were serving Sweatt with eviction papers when
she injured one deputy and then charged at a responding officer
with an ax. Video of the shooting released the day after the
shooting shows a Gallatin police officer telling Sweatt to stop
approaching, and backing up before he shot and killed the woman.
She was not a person who was out there to attack police
officers, Sweatts daughter Alainna told the Tennessean after
the video was released. She was provoked.
In another April incident, which appears to have been a suicide
by cop, Kisha Arrone, 35, was shot and killed by officers in
Dayton, Ohio. Officers were responding to a call from Arrones
partner, in which the woman claimed Arrone had held a gun to her
head. Witnesses told police that Arrone and her partner had
gotten into a violent confrontation, during which Arrone
threatened to kill herself and fired her weapon.
When police arrived, Arrone fled in a blue and silver pickup,
but the truck eventually stopped after officers deployed spike
strips. Initially she sat in the truck with the gun to her head,
but then she exited the vehicle with the gun in her hand.
Arrone, according to police, then fired one shot in the air,
prompting three officers to open fire. The officers shot 20
times, striking Arrone 10 times and killing her. None of the
officers were charged.
The officers involved in this incident were reacting to an
imminent risk of serious physical harm or death, Dayton Police
Chief Richard Biehl told reporters in April.
In the other five shootings, including Gainess death, the black
woman killed was armed with a firearm, but it remains unclear if
they attacked officers before they were shot and killed.
In February, police in Inglewood, Calif., shot and killed Kisha
Michael, 31, who they say was sitting in a car with a man when
officers approached. Police say that Michael had a gun that she
raised at officers, prompting them to open fire killing both
Michael and the man, 32-year-old Marquintan Sandlin. The mayor
has said that Michael and the man in the car were likely asleep
when officers first approached them, and no other details have
been released.
The following month India Beaty, 25, was shot and killed in
Norfolk after she allegedly pulled a replica gun on a man who
she was arguing with. Officers, who were in the area on an
unrelated assignment, ran toward the altercation and ended up
shooting and killing Beaty, who they say made a threatening
motion. Police in Orlando say that Deresha Armstrong, 26, got
into a shootout with a store owner after an attempted burglary
and then pointed a gun at a responding officer in May.
The police act more like gang members than the gangs
themselves, said Casundra Ridgeway, whose daughter Sahlah was
shot and killed by police in February.
On Feb. 12, police in Syracuse, N.Y., responded to about
suspected drug dealing in an apartment. When they arrived,
police said they saw Sahlah Ridgeway, 32, holding a sawed-off
shotgun. Then, police said, she ran and refused to drop the
weapon.
On the night of her daughters death, Casundra Ridgeway got a
call from a friend. Word was spreading that Sahlah had been
shot. The mother rushed to the scene.
They wouldnt give me any information, Casundra Ridgeway said
of the day her daughter was killed. I didnt even know my child
was dead until someone posted it on the Internet.
Local officials released a blurry surveillance video that shows
the shooting. In the video, Ridgeway can be seen running out of
an apartment complex and being chased by two officers. The
district attorney said the video shows her pivoting toward
officers with the shotgun in her hand before one of them opened
fire.
A grand jury cleared the officer involved. Police have said they
have no evidence that Ridgeway was involved in selling drugs or
was directly linked to the complaint.
Her mother remembers her as an aspiring rap artist and the
family comedian who would do anything to make her mother smile.
When she was down, Casundra Ridgeway recalls, her daughter would
jokingly flirt with her complimenting her smile or her hair
until she started laughing.
The officers should be charged, I dont understand what gives
them the right to do what they did, Casundra Ridgeway said.
There was no need for my daughter to be killed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
nation/wp/2016/08/02/korryn-gaines-is-the-ninth-black-woman-shot-
and-killed-by-police-this-year/?utm_term=.988a5b0bd10c
Korryn Gainess apartment around 9:20 a.m. on Monday to serve
warrants to her as well as a man who also resided there.
The man was wanted on an assault charge, while Gaines, 23, had
an arrest warrant for failing to appear in court after a traffic
violation in March.
According to police, no one responded to 10 minutes of door
knocking, even though they could hear several people inside.
When officers obtained a key to the apartment, they found Gaines
sitting on the floor her 5-year-old son was wrapped in one of
her arms. In her other hand was a shotgun.
Around 3 p.m., after several hours of negotiation, police say
Gaines raised the gun at officers and told them that she would
kill them if they did not leave. The officers opened fire.
Perceiving not only her actions, but the words she used, we
discharged one round at her, in turn she fired several rounds
back at us, Police Chief Jim Johnson said during a news
conference on Monday night. We fired again at her, striking and
killing her. Tragically in this circumstance, the child that was
also in the dwelling was struck by a round.
The man being sought fled the home with a 1-year-old child, but
was later taken into custody, police said.
According to Johnson, it is unclear if there is any body camera
footage of the incident (the departments body camera program is
just several weeks old).
The shooting of Gaines and her son who police say had non-life-
threatening injuries quickly prompted national outrage among
activists who have protested police killings in recent years.
The recent shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile,
followed by targeted slayings of police officers in Dallas and
Baton Rouge, renewed the national discussion of police use of
force and community distrust that has for two years been
propelled by the national Movement for Black Lives (often
referred to as the Black Lives Matter movement).
Protests have also been organized under the Say Her Name
banner, a subsidiary that seeks to bring attention to black
women who have been killed by police, who activists say are less
likely to receive the national media attention of black men who
have been killed.
Although Black women are routinely killed, raped, and beaten by
the police, their experiences are rarely foregrounded in popular
understandings of police brutality, said Kimberlé Crenshaw,
director of Columbia Law Schools Center for Intersectionality
and Social Policy Studies, in her Say Her Name report on black
women killed by the police issued last year. Yet, inclusion of
Black womens experiences in social movements, media narratives,
and policy demands around policing and police brutality is
critical to effectively combating racialized state violence for
Black communities and other communities of color.
Gaines is the ninth black woman shot and killed by police so far
in 2016, according to a Washington Post database tracking fatal
police shootings a number set to soon surpass 2015, when a
total of 10 black women were shot and killed by police.
Even though all but two of the women were armed, family members,
activists and videos have raised questions in nearly all of the
cases about whether the women were attacking officers when they
were killed. Still, before Gaines, none of the black women
killed by police this year had gained sustained national
attention.
Janet Wilson was the first black woman killed by police this
year, when she was shot and killed by officers in Dearborn,
Mich., as she drove away from a popular shopping center.
Wilsons sister recalls her as goofy, having an insatiable
appetite the Olive Garden was her favorite and as the
sibling prone to standing for hours in the mirror, lip-syncing
the words to R&B divas, most often Mariah Carey and Brandy.
She was always laughing and playing around, said Lori Wilson,
Janets sister. She just enjoyed living.
She had been distraught recently. About a year before she was
killed Wilsons boyfriend died of kidney disease. A few months
after that, Wilsons father passed away.
Wilson didnt like to discuss the deaths much, but her family
knew they were still weighing heavily on her. The morning of her
death, she called an aunt from the parking lot of a church she
had been attending she had arrived too early for Bible study
and had some free time and wanted to catch up. After worshiping,
Wilson decided to go to nearby Fairlane Mall.
Police have released little information about what transpired at
the mall. Vince Colella , an attorney for the Wilson family,
says that he thinks Wilson got into an argument with a
sunglasses vendor, and was escorted out of the mall by security.
Thats where it gets murky, Colella said.
Wilson walked to her car and drove out of the parking lot and
onto a service road. There, Dearborn police officers initiated a
traffic stop. Police have alleged that Wilson drove at police as
they approached her vehicle, prompting them to open fire.
Wilsons family questions that account.
Colella said the family has yet to be provided with dash camera
footage, which they believe will show the entirety of the
shooting.
An officer shot her through her front windshield and side
window, killing her, Colella said. This family wants justice.
The officer was not in danger. She was unarmed at the time, and
she did not commit any crime.
Wilson is an outlier among the black women shot and killed by
police this year in that she was unarmed. In seven of the other
eight cases, the woman killed was armed, and in most of them,
she was distraught. (The other unarmed black woman killed this
year was Jessica Williams, who was shot and killed in San
Francisco.)
The most clearly-captured shooting is that of Laronda Sweatt,
40, who was shot and killed in April as she approached an
officer with an ax.
Police said they were serving Sweatt with eviction papers when
she injured one deputy and then charged at a responding officer
with an ax. Video of the shooting released the day after the
shooting shows a Gallatin police officer telling Sweatt to stop
approaching, and backing up before he shot and killed the woman.
She was not a person who was out there to attack police
officers, Sweatts daughter Alainna told the Tennessean after
the video was released. She was provoked.
In another April incident, which appears to have been a suicide
by cop, Kisha Arrone, 35, was shot and killed by officers in
Dayton, Ohio. Officers were responding to a call from Arrones
partner, in which the woman claimed Arrone had held a gun to her
head. Witnesses told police that Arrone and her partner had
gotten into a violent confrontation, during which Arrone
threatened to kill herself and fired her weapon.
When police arrived, Arrone fled in a blue and silver pickup,
but the truck eventually stopped after officers deployed spike
strips. Initially she sat in the truck with the gun to her head,
but then she exited the vehicle with the gun in her hand.
Arrone, according to police, then fired one shot in the air,
prompting three officers to open fire. The officers shot 20
times, striking Arrone 10 times and killing her. None of the
officers were charged.
The officers involved in this incident were reacting to an
imminent risk of serious physical harm or death, Dayton Police
Chief Richard Biehl told reporters in April.
In the other five shootings, including Gainess death, the black
woman killed was armed with a firearm, but it remains unclear if
they attacked officers before they were shot and killed.
In February, police in Inglewood, Calif., shot and killed Kisha
Michael, 31, who they say was sitting in a car with a man when
officers approached. Police say that Michael had a gun that she
raised at officers, prompting them to open fire killing both
Michael and the man, 32-year-old Marquintan Sandlin. The mayor
has said that Michael and the man in the car were likely asleep
when officers first approached them, and no other details have
been released.
The following month India Beaty, 25, was shot and killed in
Norfolk after she allegedly pulled a replica gun on a man who
she was arguing with. Officers, who were in the area on an
unrelated assignment, ran toward the altercation and ended up
shooting and killing Beaty, who they say made a threatening
motion. Police in Orlando say that Deresha Armstrong, 26, got
into a shootout with a store owner after an attempted burglary
and then pointed a gun at a responding officer in May.
The police act more like gang members than the gangs
themselves, said Casundra Ridgeway, whose daughter Sahlah was
shot and killed by police in February.
On Feb. 12, police in Syracuse, N.Y., responded to about
suspected drug dealing in an apartment. When they arrived,
police said they saw Sahlah Ridgeway, 32, holding a sawed-off
shotgun. Then, police said, she ran and refused to drop the
weapon.
On the night of her daughters death, Casundra Ridgeway got a
call from a friend. Word was spreading that Sahlah had been
shot. The mother rushed to the scene.
They wouldnt give me any information, Casundra Ridgeway said
of the day her daughter was killed. I didnt even know my child
was dead until someone posted it on the Internet.
Local officials released a blurry surveillance video that shows
the shooting. In the video, Ridgeway can be seen running out of
an apartment complex and being chased by two officers. The
district attorney said the video shows her pivoting toward
officers with the shotgun in her hand before one of them opened
fire.
A grand jury cleared the officer involved. Police have said they
have no evidence that Ridgeway was involved in selling drugs or
was directly linked to the complaint.
Her mother remembers her as an aspiring rap artist and the
family comedian who would do anything to make her mother smile.
When she was down, Casundra Ridgeway recalls, her daughter would
jokingly flirt with her complimenting her smile or her hair
until she started laughing.
The officers should be charged, I dont understand what gives
them the right to do what they did, Casundra Ridgeway said.
There was no need for my daughter to be killed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-
nation/wp/2016/08/02/korryn-gaines-is-the-ninth-black-woman-shot-
and-killed-by-police-this-year/?utm_term=.988a5b0bd10c