Chief Won't Identify Officer Who Shot Woman in Md. Barricade

Facebook granted a police request to take down social media accounts belonging to Korryn Gaines in the midst of her standoff with officers, but the videos were shared online and became a flash point on social media

Citing an "unprecedented number" of threats against his department, Baltimore County's police chief says he will not identify the officer who fatally shot a woman after an hourslong standoff at her apartment.

A department news release on Thursday said Jim Johnson also cited the recent killings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as a factor in his decision.

Police say 23-year-old Korryn Gaines was fatally shot Monday in her Randallstown apartment when she pointed a shotgun directly at an officer. Gaines' 5-year-old son, who was in the apartment, was injured. Police said Friday they believe an officer fired a round that hit and wounded the boy.

The police department, in accordance with its agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, waits 48 hours after a shooting to identify the officers involved.

Johnson says the department has received threats against specific officers and officials.

The shooting became a flash point on social media Tuesday as video taken during the standoff, before the shooting, was shared online, NBC News reported.

Facebook granted an emergency request from the Baltimore County Police Department to take offline the social media accounts belonging to Gaines in the midst of a five-hour standoff.

Johnson said Tuesday that the department made the emergency request to have Gaines' social media accounts suspended after she posted videos online showing the standoff. People who saw the postings, Johnson said, responded by encouraging her to not to comply with police.

Videos posted on Facebook and Instagram appeared to show Gaines, who was black, talking with police in the doorway to her apartment and to her son during the standoff. In one, she asks her son what the police are trying to do.

"They trying to kill us," the boy says.

"Do you want to go out there?"

"No," he says.

The standoff Monday began after three officers went to Gaines' apartment to serve arrest warrants on her and her boyfriend, Kareem K. Courtney, 39, according to police. He left the apartment with a 1-year-old boy before the standoff and was arrested.

Gaines' bench warrant stemmed from charges during a March 10 stop, including disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Authorities said she was armed with a 12-gauge pistol grip shotgun that was legally purchased last year and toward the end of the negotiations pointed it directly at an officer and said, "If you don't leave, I'm going to kill you."

An officer shot at her and Gaines fired two shots, but missed the officers, who returned fire and killed her, police said.

NBC affiliate WBAL reports that Gaines' son is seen talking about the shooting in video posted Thursday, saying he and his bother hid in the bathroom before the shooting took place, and that he hid in a couch after it ended.

The department said in a news release Friday that another medical procedure was performed on the boy Friday at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Police said the boy was wounded in his left cheek and an elbow.

"We're extremely happy to see that this little boy is doing well and we are committed to continuing the most thorough investigation that we can muster in order to clarify and pin down all of the facts associated with this incident," Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost told the station.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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