Mother, baby killed in Independence police shooting identified by investigative team

Officials from the team investigating the police shooting in Independence last Thursday have publicly identified the two victims who died in the incident.

Maria Pike, 34, and Destinii Hope, 2 months, were named as the two victims who died after the police shooting, according to Blue Springs police Capt. Kyle Flowers. Flowers is leading the Police Involved Investigation Team, or PIIT, which is investigating the shooting.

Independence police have refused to name the cause of death for either victim, and had previously refused to name the victims.

PIITs are made up of eastern Jackson County detectives called on to investigate police shootings and use-of-force incidents.

Flowers said the investigative team in this case is made up of officers from Blue Springs, Lee’s Summit and Grandview police departments. Flowers estimates two investigators from Grandview, up to seven investigators from Blue Springs and some investigators from Lee’s Summit are currently reviewing the case.

The shooting

Independence police were called to Oval Spring Apartments, located at 16801 East Larkspur Lane, at approximately 1:43 p.m. Thursday for a domestic violence disturbance reported by a third-party caller, Independence police chief Adam Dustman said at a news conference Friday.

Flowers said he received the first phone call about the incident around 2:45 p.m. that afternoon, asking for the PIIT to respond.

When officers arrived, they said a woman was armed with a knife. Independence police refused to release the identities or ages of the woman and child killed, but some Oval Spring residents said at the time they were told it was a mother and her infant.

Family members posted photos of the baby, Destinii, on Facebook in the days since the shooting. Talisa Coombs, who identified herself on social media as the baby’s grandmother, said her granddaughter would have turned 3 months old on the 22nd of this month.

“They should have tased the mother,” Coombs posted on her Facebook page. “They had two police officers was (sic) upstairs in the apartment with my son Mitchell and Maria.”

Police have said that one officer fired at least one shot. At a Friday news conference, Dustman refused to give the official causes of death. No arrests have been made, police said.

Both the officer that fired their weapon and two other responding officers have all been placed on leave as part of normal protocol as the investigation plays out, he said. Dustman called the officer who fired a “long-tenured veteran of law enforcement.”

Family created a GoFundMe account to help pay for the funeral expenses for the baby. Felisha Holder, who identified herself as the baby’s aunt, said relatives wanted to raise enough funds so her niece “can have a beautiful funeral.” As of Tuesday morning, nearly $1,500 had been raised.

In the GoFundMe post, Holder wrote that “the bullet hit (the) baby … in the head.”

“The cops didn’t even negotiate with the mentally unstable woman,” Holder wrote in the GoFundMe post. “They made a bad decision by shooting a woman with a baby in her arms.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 12:40 PM.