A Missouri cop who shot and killed a mother and her infant daughter during a 911 call for a domestic disturbance was fired from another police agency he worked for in a different state for failing to meet the department’s standards, a new report revealed. Last November, an Independence police o fficer fatally shot Maria Pike and her 2-month-old daughter Destinii Hope at their apartment. At the time, local police released few details about the shooting and, after months of pressure and inquiries from the community, they only recently revealed the responding officers’ identities at a March 20 press conference. According to The Kansas City Star, bodycam footage showed Officers Jordan White and Chad Cox enter the third-floor apartment and find Pike standing in a bedroom closet while clutching Destinii to her chest. 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) The two officers tried speaking with Pike for several minutes when she reached her right hand toward a nightstand for a concealed knife. Pike reportedly raised the knife over her head and moved toward the officers. That’s when White fired four fatal shots, killing both the mother and the child. Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman said the shooting was justified because Pike was armed. “This is current best practice policing,” Dustman said in the news conference. “That knife, regardless of what the commentary has been surrounding that incident, is a deadly weapon. We have people that are killed with knives, often, and that is a deadly weapon which justifies the use of deadly force.” The Jackson County prosecutor stated that her office would not be filing criminal charges in the case because they could not “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooting officer used excessive force.” “The facts show that [White], with little to no time or space to react, responded to [Pike’s] sudden and surprising knife attack by firing his weapon four times at her,” prosecutor Melesa Johnson wrote in a letter about her decision. “The facts support that his actions were responsive and defensive in nature.” Police Chief Dustman said his officers’ actions reflected proper training and expertise, adding that White is a “long-tenured veteran of law enforcement.” Records obtained by The Star reveal White has held multiple positions at different law enforcement agencies since 2005. He spent a decade with a police department in Salinas, California, before he left in October 2015 and began working at the Platte County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri. He worked with the sheriff’s office for two years, then left and started his first stint with the Independence Police Department in January 2017. He “resigned of his own volition” in October 2019 and moved to Nampa, Idaho, that same month after he was hired by the city’s local police force. He served there for 11 months, but was “involuntarily terminated” in September 2020. “Jordan was just determined to be not a good fit for our police department and not meeting their standards,” Nampa Human Resources Director Marissa O’Brien told The Star. “So they weren’t prepared to pass him on his 1-year probationary period.” O’Brien didn’t point to a “single significant event” that accounted for White’s termination but said “his performance expectations” weren’t up to par. She also said it isn’t unusual for new officers to be let go before they complete their probationary period. “It could be attitude, it could be behavior,” O’Brien said. “There could be all sorts of reasons … productivity, ability to carry out certain tasks.” White returned to the Independence Police Department in September 2022. The agency’s deputy chief said that the department was aware of White’s employment history in Nampa. “Many aspects of an applicant’s personal and work history are reviewed during the hiring process,” Deputy Chief Jason Petersen said. “As with any decision, positives and negatives are compared before a hiring decision is made.” White, Cox, and another officer who was involved in the police response that ended in Pike’s death were all placed on administrative leave. Petersen said White “is expected to return soon.” Missouri Cop Who Fatally Shot 2-Month-Old Baby and Mother Was Previously Fired from Police Department In Different State for Not ‘Meeting Their Standards,’ Expected to Return to Job ...read more read less