A 34-year-old and her three-month-old daughter were fatally shot last year
An image taken from body camera footage released by Independence Police shows Maria Pike holding her daughter Destinii Hope.open image in gallery
An image taken from body camera footage released by Independence Police shows Maria Pike holding her daughter Destinii Hope. (Independence Police)
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A Missouri cop who shot and killed a woman and her child last year will not face criminal charges, prosecutors confirmed.
Two Independence police officers responded to reports of an assault at an apartment building in November. They were figuring out how to arrest the woman, who was nonverbal and communicating with nods and gestures, when she lunged towards them with a butcher's knife while holding her child, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson's office said Friday.
One officer escaped, but the other, who was backed against a closet, unloaded four shots into the woman, named as 34-year-old Maria Pike, and her three-month-old daughter, Destinii. Both died.
Maria Pike and her infant child Destinii were fatally shot during an attempted arrest.open image in gallery
Maria Pike and her infant child Destinii were fatally shot during an attempted arrest. (Independence Police)
Johnson's office said the officer's use of deadly force "falls within the protection of the law."
Her office also noted there wasn't enough evidence to conclusively prove the officer intentionally shot the infant.
"The evidence shows that the shooting officer shot the civilian who was holding the infant," prosecutors said in a statement.
"We did not arrive at this decision lightly. The loss of a young mother and her infant are devastating and tragic," Johnson said. "However, as prosecutors, we are bound by an oath to apply the law and analyze facts without being guided by the sympathy we feel for all those impacted. Our purpose is to determine if what was done was reasonable, defined by Missouri law, and not whether it was the best course of action."
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Additional reporting by AP.