Testimony: Korryn Gaines' Father Found Out About Death From News Reporter
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Testimony continued Tuesday in the trial for a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Korryn Gaines, who was fatally shot in a standoff with police.
The attorneys for the Gaines family said none of the officers involved felt in danger. They say Officer Royce Ruby was "hot" that day, he came frustrated and fatigued; and even compared him to a cowboy.
Gaines was killed during an hourslong standoff in 2016 at her Randallstown apartment after pointing a shotgun at officers trying to serve an arrest warrant stemming from a traffic stop that included disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Attorneys for Gaines' family also claim officers used excessive force when they fatally shot her and injured her 5-year-old son. They also say police violated her rights by illegally entering her apartment.
Gaines father spoke Tuesday for the first time. He said he gathered at a church during the standoff, where officers reassured him everything was OK, and he ran into a news reporter outside the church who told him his daughter was killed.
"But at the end of that day, if you would have found out about the death of your family member by the news, whether it's the news or social media, you know, how would that make you feel?" said Landon White, attorney for the Gaines family.
Some have said the tactical officers involved didn't feel unsafe during the standoff.
"I mean that's really the point of the case, that the only person who was unsafe was Ms. Gaines," said J. Wyndal Gordon, another attorney for the Gaines family.
Gordon says the Facebook Live video recorded by Gaines before she was fatally shot, depicts Officer Ruby, according to a supervisor, not being threatened.
"You knew Ruby was a cowboy," Gordon told the supervisor in court.
"I think the evidence points to the fact that Ruby was very callous and savage when it came to the shooting of Ms. Gaines," Gordon said.
County prosecutors previously found Officer Ruby's shooting legally justified and charges weren't filed.
It's unknown if Officer Ruby will take the stand.
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