Listen on Justice Report
You can access the audio edition by subscribing on our website or through Substack or Odysee.
Independence, Missouri – A young White mother and her 2-month-old baby girl were unceremoniously shot dead, reports say, after police officers responded to a domestic violence call armed with pistols and assault rifles at the ready.
The incident—which local activists have described as a state-sanctioned execution of a working-class family—has raised questions surrounding the militarized nature of American police and a department that so far refuses to release bodycam footage that could criminally implicate the officers involved.
According to the Kansas City Defender, the incident occurred on November 7th after Talisa Coombs reported a domestic dispute in the Oval Springs Apartments. Coombs, who had called police intending to have her son’s 34-year-old girlfriend, Maria Pike, arrested over an alleged assault. She advised officers that there were no weapons in the home and to be mindful of a 2-month-old baby, later identified as Destiny Hope, to be concerned about.
Reports state that Pike had been in the midst of a severe mental health episode linked to post-partum depression, and Coombs hoped authorities could help provide treatment.
“They asked me what happened? I said I was assaulted by my son’s girlfriend. And they asked if there was any weapons upstairs in the apartment. I said, no, but there’s a baby up there, my granddaughter,” said Coombs to The Defender.
“I wanted her arrested for assault, not executed,” she said.
Despite the warnings, police marched into the apartment complex as if launching a military raid, armed with handguns and assault rifles. Eyewitness reports assert that police had first raided the wrong apartment, accosting locals with weapons drawn before finally locating the correct home.
“They led with their guns the entire time,” said neighboring citizen Bug Arnold, whose apartment was incorrectly breached.
After a short discussion with Coombs’s son, Mitchell Holder, at the front door, police barged their way inside the abode, opening fire and killing 2-month-old Destiny Hope with a “headshot.”
“I asked if we could talk through the door, but they stormed in anyway,” said Holder in an interview with The Defender. “They shot my baby…It looked like her head exploded. Her blood splattered across my glasses and all over me. All I could do was scream.”
Holder alleged that as Maria Pike viscerally reacted to the murder of her infant child, Police opened fire on the 100lbs White woman, striking her multiple times, including once in the hip. He believes a lack of medical expertise among those who pulled the trigger ultimately led to her bleeding out on the floor of their living room.
“Immediately, Maria jumped up. And as soon as she did, I don’t know if the cop got scared or something, but then he fired another shot that hit Maria. I think it hit her in the hip. And the cop didn’t stop her bleeding the right way, he didn’t know what he was doing. I believe she choked on her blood and bled out,” he said.
“They shot my baby…It looked like her head exploded. Her blood splattered across my glasses and all over me. All I could do was scream.”
Mitchell Holder, victim & survivor of IPD terror.
Exclusive footage first obtained by The Kansas City Defender appears to show officers frantically searching the inside the apartment building with weapons drawn, including one officer with a high-powered assault rifle.
While Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman claims his officers were justified in their actions due to Maria Pike’s alleged possession of a bladed weapon that night, eyewitnesses have wholly denied the claims, and no such weapon has ever been produced by authorities.
To make matters worse, the police have also refused to release bodycam footage of the incident, which could easily verify such claims if the video was made public.
“I was in the apartment when I got assaulted, and there was no weapons at all, none whatsoever,” confirmed Talisa Holder.
Outraged locals have since accused Police Chief Dustman of running a “state-sanctioned disinformation campaign.” In a hurried press conference, Dustman appeared to repeat dubious claims that Pike had been armed with a weapon while also admitting to sending his officers into the building without the assistance of a departmental mental health team.
“When we arrived, officers encountered a female who ultimately was armed with a knife, and as a result of that encounter, it resulted in two fatalities, one to the armed female and one to a child,” he said.
When asked to clarify if one of his officers brutally killed an infant girl that night, Dustman reeled, quickly evading the question and refusing to answer even basic inquiries.
“I cannot confirm any of that,” Dustman stammered during the brief. “I’m not going to identify or get into any sort of ages or anything like that.”
While the officers involved in the massacre have yet to be identified, reports state that three cops linked to the incident have been placed on “administrative leave,” a practice common with law enforcement who used deadly force in the so-called line of duty.
Meanwhile, friends and family of the victims have begun a grassroots campaign to obtain justice in the case. Community advocates point to Maria Pike’s severe challenges with poverty, post-partum depression, and declining mental health as a particular cause for concern, which was met only with lethal force and “terror” by the IPD.
“To the police department, I want to say this: own up to what you did,” said Mitchell Holder’s sister, Felisha, to The Defender. “She needed help. The cops weren’t here to help her.”
“We will not stop,” Felisha continued. “Justice for Maria and Destiny is the only option.”
Felisha has launched a GoFundMe with the aim of giving little Destiny a proper burial. “Please help my family raise money so baby Destinii can have a beautiful funeral. She would’ve been 3 months old on the 22nd,” read a statement on the fundraiser.
Bloody, extrajudicial killings hatched by members of American law enforcement have only become more commonplace in recent years. However, such murders often include members of the White community’s most vulnerable.
In January 2016, police summarily executed White 26-year-old Daniel Shaver of Granbury, Texas, on the cold floor of a La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Mesa, Arizona. The harrowing incident was captured on police bodycam, which showed an unarmed Shaver begging for his life before being shot dead by police officer Philip Brailsford, who was later exonerated in a court of law.
In March of 2022, a Dominican police officer from Philadelphia was sentenced to 8-20 years behind bars after shooting White 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio as he lay face down on the ground, killing him. In the days after executing Siderio with his duty weapon, the killer—a plainclothes police detective identified as 28-year-old Edsaul Mendoza—attempted to flee the country, searching for plane tickets to his native Dominican Republic.
In 2023, a reckless Sheriff’s Deputy in Blount County, Alabama, struck and killed an electrical lineman, Andrew Schwam, after speeding in a work zone. While Sheriff Mark Moon denied the officer committed any wrongdoing, the Justice Report obtained key video evidence that contradicted his claims, as well as identifying the culprit in an independent investigation of events.
Update 11/28/24: Independence Police have finally released bodycam footage from the November 7th incident, which purports to show Maria Pike raising a knife and charging uniformed police. However, many have questioned whether or not it was reasonable for officers to deploy deadly physical force, considering their close proximity to a 2-month-old child.
A highly edited version of the bodycam footage shows officers arrive at the Oval Springs Apartments before reaching Pike’s apartment and finding her inside a closet, holding baby Destiny. While at first, PIke appears to be cooperative with officers for roughly 11 minutes, the woman—suffering from severe mental health issues—reveals a knife after lowering the baby down.
The video then cuts to black, presumably as officers open fire, killing Pike and Destiny in a hail of gunfire.
A statement from The Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project, which advocates for victims of police violence, appeared to criticize IPD for the poor timing of the video’s release and called the move a form of “gaslighting.”
“It is unconscionable that, after the trauma the families of baby Destinii and mom Maria have endured, the Independence Police Department would release a highly-edited bodycam footage of this tragedy on Thanksgiving Eve,” the statement read. “The thought that IPD could not give the grieving families enough respect or consideration to allow them to have a peaceful holiday, instead releasing the video to the media WITHOUT WARNING, is inexcusable.”
“We hope the community will not be deterred by the gaslighting by law enforcement and will join the families in their demand for the release of the entire bodycam video…A transparent and thorough investigation, a review and transformation of department policies, and accountability for all responsible for the deaths of Maria and baby Destinii,” it continued.
While an investigation is still ongoing, IPD has stated that they are in the “final phases” of the case. A memorial Christmas Tree now rests in the lobby of the Oval Springs Apartments as a community still reels from the loss of both Pike and baby Destiny.
Have a story? Please forward any tips or leads to the editors at [email protected]
