Frankly, I think Gaines put her child out as bait, in hopes the SWAT officer would step into the apartment so that she could murder him.
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The race-baiting Shaun King posted video filmed by Gaines’s phone of a Baltimore County SWAT officer in her front doorway during the roughly six-hour standoff where she held her son as an unwitting hostage. Her five-year-old son was with her throughout the negotiations, and the boy was wounded in the arm during an exchange of gunfire between police and Gaines, authorities said. Police say she was shot dead after an hours-long standoff in which she pointed a long gun at officers.
An officer then shot at her, and she shot back.
Baltimore County Police said the boy was taken to hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and would not confirm whether the child was struck by a bullet fired by his 23-year-old mother or police.
Police said they had a warrant to arrest Gaines for an outstanding traffic violation when they went to her apartment Monday morning. After 10 minutes, the officers obtained a key to the apartment from the landlord and allegedly found Gaines sitting on the floor pointing a long gun.
“The male suspect ran from the apartment with a one-year-old boy – one of two children in in the apartment with the couple – and was apprehended by police”.
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to kill you”. The department recently started a body camera program, but only some officers have received them. Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said police did not ask the social media company to delete any information.
All officers involved in this incident were placed on administrative leave, with their names expected to be released on Wednesday. In one video, she asks her son what the police are trying to do.
Gaines’ boyfriend is charged with second-degree assault, which stems from a June fight with Gaines, police said. Their names will be released 48 hours after the incident, in accordance with the department’s contract with the Fraternal Order of Police.
A video that is thought to have been taken by Gaines at the beginning of the standoff shows her asking the child about what is happening.
It was not clear if he was running or walking when he left, Armacost said.
Anger against police violence remains high in the Baltimore area, which is still reeling from the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore resident who died on April 19, 2015, after suffering a spinal injury while in police custody. Police have not released the relationship between Gaines and the child.
Gaines’ uncle Jerome Barnett told The Baltimore Sun that Gaines “was feisty, but she was smart and she was respectful”.
“My niece is a good person; I never knew her to be a rowdy person”.
CNN affiliate WBAL reports that it is the county’s third officer-involved shooting of 2016, and the first fatal officer-involved shooting of the year.
Following the death of another African-American at the hands of police, anger spilled out on social media pages.
According to police, three officers went to Gaines’ apartment in Randallstown around 9:20 a.m.to serve arrest warrants on her and a man. Authorities say Gaines was wanted for failing to appear in court on traffic charges dating from a stop in March.
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Many users pointed out instances in which white people, such as Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooter James Holmes, survived police encounters despite being heavily armed.
