Missouri authorities recently made public a portion of a video that details the moments preceding a police officer’s fatal shooting of a woman and her 2-month-old daughter in early September.
The edited and partial video shows Independence police officers responding to a home for a domestic incident. The baby’s father let officers in the home before they encountered Maria Pike — whose family said was suffering from postpartum depression, according to KCTV.
Pike’s family said they believed officers would be arrested and given assistance. Cops found Pike, 34, cradling her daughter in a bedroom closet. They ask her if she’s okay, to which she shakes her head up and down.
According to Independence police, Pike ignored officers’ requests to put her daughter down. Instead, she carried her daughter to a nearby bed and sat down with her.
In text accompanying the heavily redacted video, police wrote, “She retrieved the concealed large kitchen-style knife and charged at officers, while still holding the child. As a result, one officer fired at the female and both she and the infant sustained fatal injuries.”
The video released last week did not show the shooting. Since then, Pike’s family has demanded the release of the unredacted, complete bodycam footage from the fatal November 7 incident.
The infant’s grandmother explained that she called the police after Pike assaulted her.
“I just wanted to make sure that baby Destinii was good. Maria needed some help, that’s all. I didn’t ask them police officers to go upstairs into that apartment and shoot that baby and Maria,” the grandmother said, according to KCUR.
Meanwhile, Independence police said the incident remains under investigation. The officer who fatally shot Pike and her daughter has not been publicly identified.
