No Charges to Be Filed Against Officer Who Killed Korryn Gaines: Report

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — The officer who shot and killed a Randallstown woman and injured her 5-year-old son in their apartment last month will not face charges, attorneys told WBAL.

Korryn Gaines, 23, of the unit block of Sulky Court, was fatally shot during a barricade situation in her apartment, where police arrived Aug. 1 to serve a warrant for failing to appear about traffic charges.

Police have been investigating the incident internally; on Tuesday, Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger announced he will meet with the Gaines family Wednesday about the status of the case.

County officials did not disclose what Shellenberger planned to say during the meeting and issued this statement: "The state's attorney's office felt that any decision in this matter be first communicated to the family of Ms. Gaines before statements to the public are made. There will be no further comment until Mr. Shellenberger has had the opportunity to discuss the case with the family of Ms. Gaines."

Attorneys for the family of Korryn Gaines issued their own statements Tuesday saying that the state's attorney "completed his monitoring of the police investigation...and will not be filing criminal charges against any of the officers involved," according to WBAL.

The family of Korryn Gaines is suing the Baltimore County Police Department and Officer Ruby — who shot her — for $2 million each, claiming excessive force, gross negligence, wrongful death and suppression of speech. Police in Baltimore County are identified by last name only based on a union agreement.

Officials said that Ruby, who has served the Baltimore County Police Department for 16 years, was involved in one prior police-involved shooting; that was in August 2007. That incident was also fatal, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported Ruby and another officer shot at a 24-year-old suicidal man in Parkville who threatened to shoot them with a weapon that later turned out to be a BB gun.

In the case of Gaines, police were serving a warrant after she allegedly failed to appear for court regarding a March traffic violation.

Gaines said she would come out before 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 1 if the police put their guns down and backed up from her apartment, according to an account her neighbor provided through her attorneys. When police did not retreat, she told them to leave.

The deadly confrontation ended around 3 p.m. after police said Gaines pointed a shotgun at a tactical officer and threatened to shoot him. Authorities said there was an exchange of gunfire; Gaines fired two rounds from the shotgun, but did not strike police. Ruby shot her, officials said.

Her son — Kodi Gaines, 5 — was shot in the left cheek with a round fired by a tactical officer, police said. He suffered an injury that officials said was not believed to be life-threatening.

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Photo of Korryn Gaines, courtesy of Baltimore County Police Department.