Vigil for Independence mother and her baby includes calls for police accountability
More than a week after an Independence mother and her infant were killed in a police shooting in their apartment, family and friends gathered to honor their memories — and renewed calls for accountability.
Maria Pike, 34, and her baby daughter Destinii Hope, just two months old, were fatally shot on Nov. 7 at the Oval Springs Apartment in Independence. A candlelight vigil was held at the apartment complex on Friday night, attended by at least 50 family members, neighbors and friends.
The Independence Police Department has confirmed that one officer fired at least one shot during the altercation that led to Pike and Destinii’s deaths. Family members — including Felisha Holder and Ashley Greenfield, the sisters of Destinii’s father, Mitchell Holder — have said police shot the mother and daughter.
“We will keep fighting for justice,” Felisha Holder said Friday. “We can’t keep having these officers kill our loved ones.”
Many of Pike’s neighbors at Oval Spring walked over to the vigil wrapped in blankets, holding hands with young children or stopping to sign a series of tribute posters. Some wept openly as they lit one another’s candles.
Oval Spring Apartments manager Carrie Lufkin arranged the candlelight vigil with support from the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project. Lufkin also organized a teddy bear drive in honor of Pike and Destinii.
“What happened last week was tragic,” Lufkin said Friday. “None of us got up that morning thinking the day was going to end up the way it did … I just want to let you guys know how sorry I am, and how deeply saddened we all are.”
According to relatives, Independence police responded to the Oval Spring Apartments at 16801 E Larkspur Lane after Talisa Coombs, the child’s paternal grandmother, called 911. When police entered, Pike had sequestered herself in a closet, holding the infant.
Greenfield previously said that Pike, while still carrying her child, had moved from the closet to a bed as police attempted to remove Destinii from her mother, and that an officer fired at Pike when she reached for something on her nightstand, striking both her and the infant. Independence police alleged Pike was armed with a knife at the time of the shooting.
Felisha Holder and other residents raised questions on Friday about why Independence police used lethal force against Pike instead of opting for a Taser. The department has so far refused to provided many details about the incident, including the identities of the victims or the causes of death.
The officer who fired his weapon, along with two other responding officers, have been placed on administrative leave.
“They say that it was protocol. I don’t believe that,” Felisha Holder said Friday. “If that was just a random person holding a baby in their arms and someone else shoots them, they would go to jail … the officer needs to go to prison for the rest of his life.”
While relatives called for justice, Lufkin also encouraged attendees to honor the mother and daughter’s memory by making peace in their own homes.
“Go home and love your family and be there for one another,” Lufkin said. “At this time we need to be strong… we need to come together as a community and be strong together.”
Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker attended the vigil and spoke with Coombs. Peters Baker declined to be interviewed, saying she was there in a private capacity to show support to the family.
Felisha Holder and Greenfield told The Star that Independence police have not contacted them since the shooting. The family said it wants to review the body camera footage and has hired an attorney.
“To the police department, I would like to say, own up to what you did,” Felisha Holder told The Star.
Greenfield has said that Pike had experienced mental health and anger issues and that Coombs had made previous calls to the Missouri Department of Social Services.
“Maria had postpartum depression,” Greenfield told The Star Friday. “She needed help, and the cops, they wasn’t here to help her.”
Friday’s vigil ended with a solemn walk up the hill to the apartment where Pike and Destinii were shot. In a wide circle in the parking lot, residents waved their memorial candles and released fistfuls of purple balloons into a clear sky.
As the group took up calls of “Justice for Destinii and Maria — Justice for mental health — Justice for all of us,” several candles flickered, blowing out in the wind.
Previous reporting by The Star’s Laura Bauer and PJ Green contributed to his article.
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 10:47 AM.
