By Monique Jones
The Birmingham Times
A 23-year-old woman was killed in a Randallstown, MD apartment complex Monday. Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson said in a press conference that the woman, Korryn Gaines, held officers at bay during an hours-long standoff, threatening to kill them. A five-year-old boy in the apartment with Gaines was also shot, but his injuries were non-life threatening. “We do not know, at this moment in time, whether or not that round was fired by our weapons or by the weapons possessed by Ms. Gaines,” said Johnson.
Johnson stated several warrant squad members and a uniformed officer were dispatched to serve arrest warrants on Gaines and a man who has yet to be identified. According to Johnson, Gaines’ warrants were for failure to appear in cases related to an incident in March, in which she had been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and traffic violations; the man was wanted for assault.
The officers, according to Johnson, repeatedly made themselves known to Gaines and the unidentified man by knocking on the door, identifying themselves, and signifying their intent to serve Gaines and the man warrants. But, despite the officers hearing voices from inside the residence, no one came to the door. After obtaining a key from the landlord, one of the officers entered the apartment to allegedly find Gaines sitting on the floor with a long gun pointed in the officer’s direction. Tactical personnel were then called.
The man allegedly tried to escape the scene with a 1-year-old child, but was later caught by police. For hours, officers tried to negotiate with Gaines, who was inside the apartment with the five-year-old. “My personnel showed great firearms restraint during this dialogue,” said Johnson.
“It was a point at around 3 p.m. this afternoon that the suspect in this case…pointed again the shotgun, the long gun at our personnel, advised them that if they did not retreat or leave, she was going to kill them,” he said. The police then fired, according to Johnson, “one round” of ammunition at her. “In turn, she fired several rounds back at us,” said Johnson. “We fired again at her, striking and killing her.”
