Family of Korryn Gaines to Learn Findings of Investigation Into Officer-Involved Shooting
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Attorneys representing the family of a woman fatally shot by Baltimore County police say they are expected to learn that no criminal charges will be filed against the officers involved in the shooting.
Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger is scheduled to meet with the family of Korryn Gaines and attorneys on Wednesday to discuss the investigation into the August 1 shooting involving a Baltimore County police officer.
Wyndal Gordon, who represents the estate of Gaines tells WJZ that he fully expects to learn that the investigation into Gaine's death shows that the police did nothing wrong.
Baltimore County Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said the officers shot and killed Korryn Gaines, 23, after she barricaded herself inside her Randallstown apartment with her 5-year-old son and pointed a shotgun at officers attempting to serve an arrest warrant. Police tell WJZ she repeatedly threatened to shoot the officers. The warrant was on charges stemming from a March 10 traffic stop that included disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Just last week, lawyers for Gaines filed a wrongful death suit against the department claiming that officers fired the fatal shot at Gaines because they ran out of patience during the seven-hour standoff and not because they feared for their safety.
The lawsuit filed by attorney J. Wyndal Gordon against the police officer and Baltimore County contends that officers illegally entered Gaines' apartment after persuading the manager of her apartment complex to give them a key despite the fact that nobody answered the door when officers knocked.
The suit also says that Gaines' neighbor, Ramone Coleman, heard Gaines ask to inspect the warrant, but the officers refused. Coleman also said special forces officers "seized" his apartment to use it as an outpost and drilled holes in the living room, bedroom and bathroom walls in order to monitor Gaines' movements with surveillance equipment.
According to the suit, Coleman said he heard Gaines offer to surrender shortly after her boyfriend, Kareem Courtney, and their young child left the apartment, and Courtney was arrested.
"Korryn Gaines said to the police, 'if you put your guns down and back up from my apartment, I will come out,'" the suit reads. "However, none of the police backed up from the apartment door." The suit also alleges that the police "did not fear Gaines as they had indulged her for several hours even up to the point where they alleged that she handled her weapon," the suit reads. "Police grew frustrated with Gaines because she would not submit to their authority."
Coleman told the attorneys that he heard a male police officer utter, "I'm sick of this s(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk)" before multiple shots were fired.
WJZ has reached out to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office who says that any decision regarding the investigation will first be communicated to the family of Gaines.
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