A Missouri family and their community are mourning the tragic deaths of a 34-year-old woman and her infant daughter, who were killed in an officer-involved shooting earlier this month. Family members say Maria Pike and her 2-month-old daughter Destinii Hope were shot to death on Nov. 7 after police were called to an apartment in Independence, Missouri, to respond to a domestic disturbance. Two-month-old Destinii Hope was killed alongside her mother in an officer-involved shooting in Independence Missouri on Nov. 7, 2024. (Photo: Facebook/Talisa Coombs) Few details have been released by local law enforcement in the weeks since the shooting, but eyewitnesses shared their accounts of what happened with local news outlets. Talisa Coombs, the infant’s grandmother, told The Kansas City Star that she was the one who called the police after getting into a physical altercation with the child’s mother. Family members say Maria Pike had mental health and anger issues and had recently been suffering from postpartum depression. Coombs said when she called police she thought authorities would arrive, take Pike into custody, and get her the help she needed. She told her son and Destinii’s father, Mitchell Holder, that she wanted to press charges against Pike for the assault. When police arrived, Holder reportedly refused to let them in at first, but an assistant property manager of the apartment complex persuaded him to let two officers inside. That assistant manager, Gavin Delaney, told The Star that when police entered the apartment, Pike was in a bedroom closet holding Destinii, not doing or saying anything. Destinii’s father, who witnessed the shooting first-hand, recounted the moments before the shooting to his sister, Ashley Greenfield. Greenfield told The Star that when the officers entered the apartment, they and Holder tried to take the baby away from Pike after she moved from the closet to a bed. Greenfield stated that when Pike reached for an object on the nightstand, an officer shot the infant in the head while she was still in her mother’s arms. Holder later recalled his horrified reaction to the shooting to The Kansas City Defender. “They shot my baby,” Holder told the outlet. “It looked like her head exploded. Her blood splattered across my glasses and all over me. All I could do was scream. I just kept saying three words — the same three words — ‘You killed her!’ I was screaming it. Over and over.” He added that Pike jumped up after that first shot, and an officer opened fire on her. Accounts vary as to whether Pike was wielding a weapon at the time officers entered the apartment. Local news outlets reported that among the few details police officials released so far about the shooting, they stated that Pike was armed with a knife. “When we arrived, officers encountered a female who ultimately was armed with a knife,” Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman said. “And as a result of that encounter, it resulted in two fatalities, one to the armed female and one to a child.” Family members, however, state otherwise. Destinii’s grandmother stated that there were no weapons in the home before she called police. Holder also said that he never saw Pike holding a knife during the encounter with police. “Yes, I was in the room when it all happened,” Holder said. “From what I could see, I never once saw Maria armed with anything. I honestly don’t even know where that came from. I’ve heard crazy things like that she was holding the baby hostage in a closet, that she had a knife, all this crazy stuff that’s not true. I mean, all I can say is it’s possible she had a knife and somehow I didn’t see it, but all I know is I never saw her holding anything — and I was right there in the room.” Independence Police said the investigation has been turned over to the Jackson County Police Involved Investigative Team (PIIT), a team of detectives who examine police shootings and use-of-force incidents. Chief Dustman said that only one officer, “a long-tenured veteran of law enforcement,” fired his gun during the incident. That officer and two others at the scene have been placed on administrative leave. Captain Kyle Flowers, who is heading the PIIT team looking into the shooting, stated last week that investigators examined body camera footage of the incident and plan to interview witnesses. According to KMBC, the team will turn findings from their investigation over to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, but Flowers didn’t specify exactly when. Family members have called for authorities to release the bodycam video to the public, which will hopefully reveal once and for all if Pike was armed with a knife at the time of the shooting. They’re also calling for the officers involved in the shooting to be disciplined. “Why has the body camera footage not been released?” Amber Travis, the victims’ cousin, said at a community vigil for Pike and her daughter. “Give my family some peace.” “It means a lot that the community feels what we feel,” Holder said. “It means the world. It won’t bring her back, but at least we know that we have a lot of support here.” A GoFundMe page was created to help pay for Destinii’s funeral. As of Wednesday afternoon, it has raised more than $3,000. Destinii would have turned 3 months old on Nov. 22. ‘You Killed Her!’: Missouri Cop Shoots 2-Month-Old Baby and Her Mother After Relative Called Police for Help with Domestic Disturbance; Family Demands Release of Bodycam Footage