A 23-year-old Black woman was fatally shot in Maryland on Monday, after a standoff with police that lasted several hours ended up in an exchange of gunfire. A 5-year-old boy, identified by the victim's uncle as her son, was also hurt in the incident, according to The Baltimore Sun.
The Baltimore County Police said that officers knocked on Korryn Gaines' door to serve a warrant for her arrest and the arrest of another man in the house. Gaines was wanted for failing to appear in court after a traffic violation in March, NBC News reported.
Rest in peace to my step-cousin Korryn Gaines. I'm so sorry your baby girl & boy have to live w/o a mother. pic.twitter.com/l9T1EoPy4s
— Taylor Champ (@tchampp) August 2, 2016
No one answered the door, despite the officers hearing people inside the house, according to NBC News. 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 officers retreated and called for tactical support. The standoff lasted until 3 p.m., when, according to the police, Gaines allegedly said, "If you don't leave, I'm going to kill you."
The police opened fired, wounding and killing her. The 5-year-old boy was wounded but is expected to survive, The Baltimore Sun reported.
"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, The Washington Post reported. "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 names of the officers involved have not been released yet due to an agreement with the county police union.
Gaines is the ninth Black woman to be killed by the police this year, according to The Washington Post.