Independence Police Slaughter Mother & 2-Month Old Infant in Botched Domestic Dispute Call

Left: Independence police storm apartment building with handguns & rifles, Right: Mitchell, Maria & Baby Destiny smile in a photo **TRIGGER WARNING, Violence Against Women, Police Brutality, Homicide** INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI — Two-month-old Destiny Hope and her mother, Maria Pike, were gunned down by Independence police in what community members are calling a state-sanctioned execution. The killings have sparked outrage and demands for justice, with critics pointing to this as yet another example of the escalating violence of American policing. “Shots Fired, Shots Fired” The tragic chain of events was set into motion in the afternoon of November 7th, when Talisa Coombs, baby Destiny’s grandmother, called the police to report a domestic dispute at the Oval Spring Apartments in Independence. According to Talisa, she had been assaulted by Maria during a heated altercation. She wanted Maria arrested for assault—but what unfolded far exceeded anything she could have imagined. “I wanted her arrested for assault, not executed,” she told The Defender.& Talisa described to The Defender what happened in the moments leading up to the officer’s raid; “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...