Cops Killing Mother & The Baby She Was Holding After She Charges Them With A Knife In Her Apartment

Posted • December 1, 2024: The Independence Police Department released some body camera footage and context of what they say led up to a deadly police shooting earlier this month. Maria Pike, 34, and her 2-month-old daughter, Destinii, died in the shooting on November 7. On Wednesday, Independence police released this video that shows the moments before they were shot. The video begins with Independence officers approaching a man and woman outside a building at Oval Spring Apartments. The woman identifies herself as Destinii’s grandmother, whose relatives told FOX4 she called police for help. Relatives said the grandmother, Talisa Coombs, got into a physical confrontation with Pike, leading to the 911 call. After officers spoke with her, they determined a domestic assault took place.

The video then shows officers going into the building to get permission from the apartment manager to go inside Pike’s apartment, where they found her holding Destinii in a closet. Independence police say they spoke with her for 11 minutes. Video shows some of that interaction, where officers ask her questions about whether she’s okay and if she’s been hurt. She responds with gestures, but doesn’t say anything at any point when she’s on camera in the released footage. Independence police say officers tried to convince her to release her daughter, but she didn’t, walking past the officers to sit on a bed next to a nightstand where there was a large knife. At this point, the video shows her sit down on the bed with the baby’s dad at the foot of the bed. The video then shows her pick up the knife while still holding her baby, and raise the knife over her head before charging toward an officer. One officer then shot at her, striking both her and the baby, killing them both. The video doesn’t say or show how many times the officer fired.