The family of Korryn Gaines was awarded over $37 million in damages for the tragic death of the Maryland woman fatally shot by police after a six-hour standoff in 2016,.
The incident occurred when local police served arrest warrants on Gaines in August 2016 for failing to appear in court for two separate counts. Upon entry into her apartment, they found Gaines with her boyfriend and her two children. She also had a long gun that she aimed and threatened at police, according to their reports.
After hours of negotiation, cops opened fire when she threatened to kill them, though neighbors gave a different accounts of events. The police killed Gaines and wounded her now six-year old son Kodi.
The jury said the shots that killed Gaines and injured Kodi were not reasonable and violated their civil rights, the Baltimore Sun reports. Although police reports say Gaines was armed and had threatened to open fire on officers before she was fatally shot, many feel the officers could have resolved the situation without it turning deadly.
As a result, Gaines’ son Kodi was awarded $32 million in damages. His younger sister, Karsyn, who was a one-year-old at the time and escaped unharmed with the boyfriend, was awarded $4.5 million. Gaines’ parents also received just over $600,000, and her estate received another $300,000.
“This win is for all of my sisters in the movement who have lost their children to police violence,” said Gaines’ mother, Rhanda Dormeus, to reporters after the verdict. “Some of them have never received justice, either criminally or civil. I just want to tell them that this win is for them.
