On Tuesday it was announced that attorneys would not be filing any criminal charges against the officers involved in the shooting of Korryn Gaines and her 5-year-old son. The family’s attorney is meeting with the Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger today to confirm with the family that “he completed his monitoring of the police investigation into the killing of Korryn Gaines and will not be filing criminal charges against any of the officers involved.”
The family has expressed a lack of faith in the ongoing investigation. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund also penned a letter to County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, asking for an independent investigation of the police-involved shooting of Korryn and Kodi Gaines. According to the Legal Defense Fund, there have been six police-involved shootings in Baltimore County since January, 2015. Four of the shooting victims were black. They explained that African Americans are 67 percent of the police involved shooting victims, but only 28 percent of the county population. Clearly something is wrong.
The NAACP LDF is requesting that several areas be reviewed, such as policies regarding execution of arrest warrants, policies and procedures regarding the deployment of the crisis negotiation team and even the way officers are trained on body cameras. Most importantly, they are requesting that there be a meeting with community groups to discuss the appointment of an independent investigatory team for police-involved shootings.
The letter raises very valid points about the issues that plague not only the Baltimore County Police Department, but others across the country.
