KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Independence Police Department on Wednesday released edited body camera video showing some of the moments leading up to the police shooting that left a baby and mother dead.
The shooting happened Nov. 7 at the Oval Springs Apartment near Larkspur Lane and Missouri 291 in Independence.
Officers had responded to the apartment on reports of a domestic disturbance.
Baby Destinii Hope, who was born in August, and Maria Pike, 34, both died in the incident.
Edited body cam video released
Editor's Note: The video posted below by the Independence Police Department is not presented in the totality of the incident, with portions of the body camera video not included.
In the video, officers are seen approaching the unit where baby Destinii, Pike and Mitchell Holder, the father of the baby and boyfriend of Pike, lived.
Officers enter a bedroom in the unit and later encounter Pike standing inside of a closet holding baby Destinii.
The officer asks Pike to place baby Destinii down and exit the closet and speak with them.
"Can you come out here, please?" the officer asks, to which Pike says nothing.
The officer then asks, "Are you OK? Are you hurt?"
Pike shakes her head up and down and side by side to answer the questions of the officer.
The officer then says, "Can we put the baby down and come out here and talk and figure out what's going?"
Pike later exits the closet and sits on a bed next to a nightstand, the video shows.
Moments later, while sitting on the bed, Pike grabs a knife off the nightstand and charges at the officers.
The video, which includes captions that describe the incident and were added by the department, then ends.
In captions edited into the video, police confirmed for the first time it was the gunfire that resulted in baby Destinii and Pike dead.
"She retrieved the concealed large concealed large kitchen-style knife and charged at the officers, while still holding the child," captions in the video said. "As a result, one officer fired at the female and both she and the infant sustained fatal injuries."
Authorities said investigation into shooting continues
Holder, father of Destinii and boyfriend of Pike, recounted the shooting to KSHB 41's Abby Dodge on Tuesday.
Holder said police responded to the apartment because his mother, Talisa Coombs, and Pike had argued over who should take care of Destinii.
The investigation is being led by the Blue Springs Police Department, which is a member of a multi-agency unit that investigates shootings involving police.
On Wednesday, Blue Springs Capt. Kyle Flowers said the department was aware Dustman planned to release the body camera video.
Flowers also said the investigation remains ongoing.
"We are still working toward completing and submitting our investigation to the prosecutor's office," Flowers said in the statement. "Any information contained in the release is information we were already aware of; this release does not affect the investigation being conducted by PIIT."
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