Woman Fatally Shot By Baltimore Co. Police Had History Of Anti-Government Sentiment

Korryn Gaines video during standoff with Baltimore PD *NEW VIDEO 2016!* (Part One)

Woman Fatally Shot By Baltimore Co. Police Had History Of Anti-Government Sentiment

Baltimore County Police say the Randallstown woman killed in a standoff with officers Monday had a history of anti-government views.

Korryn Gaines, 23, engaged in an hours-long barricade after officers attempted to serve arrest warrants on her and her boyfriend at the apartment in the unit block of Sulky Court.

One officer got a key from the landlord and opened the apartment after no one responded to repeated knocks. The officer saw Gaines sitting on the floor, pointing a long gun at him, police said. The officers retreated to the hallway, and the boyfriend exited through the front door with a 1-year-old boy, authorities said.

That man, later identified as 39-year-old Kareem Kiean Courtney, was arrested on his outstanding warrant for second-degree assault and later released on his own recognizance. The alleged June assault was against Gaines, according to a police report released Tuesday afternoon. That report is attached above. Gaines alleged at the time that Courtney attempted to strike her with a chair.

Police negotiators tried to talk with Gaines, who they said pointed the gun at tactical officers several times. Negotiators, police say, described her demeanor as "up and down" up to that point.According to investigators, about 3 p.m., Gaines pointed the gun directly at an officer and said, "If you don"t leave, I"m going to kill you."

That"s when an officer shot at the woman, Chief Jim Johnson said. Gaines returned two shots, and another officer returned three more. Her 5-year-old son Kodi Gaines was injured. He remains in good condition at Johns Hopkins Children"s Center, police say, with a wound to the arm.

Johnson said it"s not clear who fired the shot that struck Kodi Gaines, an officer or his mother, or if he was injured by shrapnel. The officer involved has not yet been identified, and no officers have given statements to investigators, spokeswoman Elise Armacost said.

It"s not yet known why Courtney only left with one of the children, or where Kodi Gaines was at the time his mother and police opened fire. Armacost declined to speculate on whether Gaines was using her son as a shield.

Gaines was armed with aMossberg 12-gauge pistol grip shotgun, which police say was purchased last year. She said officers there to serve the warrant Monday morning may not have been aware she had the firearm, or of the details of the March traffic stop that led to the warrant for her arrest for failure to appear.The report from that incident, like Courtney"s arrest, can be read at the top of this page.

On March 16, she was pulled over with cardboard where her license plates ought to have been, according to a police report released Tuesday. On the rear of her car, the cardboard read,"Any Government official who compromises this pursuit to happiness and right to travel, will be held criminally responsible and fined, as this is a natural right and freedom." On the front, the cardboard read "Free Traveler." She had two children, including an infant, in the back seat.

The officer asked Gaines why she didn"t have tags. Gaines responded that he didn"t have the right to pull her over and asked him to identify himself. The officer asked for her license and registration, but Gaines repeated that he did not have the authority to ask her for anything. He asked again, and she said he did not have the authority to ask her any questions. Gaines remained combative, only giving the officer her license under threat of arrest. Police found her registration was suspended and uninsured. She was issued a citations and a must appear form, which she later threw out her window.

An officer told her she would be towed, but refused to get out of her car. She said she would not let officers "steal" her car, and said they would have to "murder" her. It was at that point she was placed under arrest, even as she physically struggled with officers.

Johnson and Armacost also spoke about questions circling regarding Gaines" Facebook and Instagram accounts. Two videos on her Instagram account, one showing her loading a shotgun well before the barricade situation, another showing an officer stationed outside her door during the barricade, were deleted and have yet to be restored. Both repeatedly denied the videos were deleted, and said investigatorscould not have deleted them if they wanted to.

"We did in fact reach out to social media authorities to deactivate her account, to take it offline, if you will," Johnson said. "Why? In order preserve the integrity of the negotiation process with her and for the safety of our personnel, her child."

Johnson said Gaines was posting video of police operations as they unfolded, and people were encouraging her not to comply with police instructions. Armacost said it took an hour for police to decide her accounts needed to be deactivated and for that request to be approved by Facebook, which owns Instagram. They stressed they did not and could not delete the videos themselves, and would not have asked for the videos, which remain inaccessible, to be deleted, as they remain evidence. Johnson said police are working to obtain from Facebook any and all evidence from her account that may help investigators understand the incident.

Johnson said that none of the police in "direct conflict" with Gaines were outfitted with body cameras. Only about 40 of the department"s officers have been trained on the cameras.

Armacost said police were working with Gaines" father and mental health professionals, along with trained negotiators, throughout the day. She said she couldn"t yet say what grounds they had to request the mental health assistance.

"We certainly are well aware of the issues that we are dealing with in the country at this time," Armacost said. "We feel that overall we have a good relationship with our constituencies, and we realize that successful policing means you have to continue that."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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