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

**UPDATE** Independence Police Department has released edited, body camera footage showing short portions of the moments leading up to their murder of Maria and baby Destiny. Officers did not allow mental health responders to engage Maria, and ultimately footage shows Maria grabbing a knife in the final moments prior to the murder of Maria and her child. Family and community members maintain that lethal force should have never been employed. Additional edits have been made for accuracy of the piece given existing information**

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 apartment. I said, no, but there’s a baby up there, my granddaughter.”

Moments later, officers went upstairs, with the scene ultimately escalating, to a point completely unforeseeable to Talisa.

A Militarized Response to a Domestic Dispute

Exclusive footage obtained by The Kansas City Defender shows officers storming the building with pistols drawn and at least one cop sprinting up the stairs wielding a military-grade assault rifle. This footage appears to have happened after the double murder of Maria & baby Destiny had already occurred.

Their target? A 100-pound petite woman (Maria Pike) holding her infant daughter while in the throes of a domestic altercation. 

Witnesses, including Mitchell and apartment manager describe a chaotic scene. Instead of waiting for the mental health co-responder reportedly dispatched to the scene, officers restrained the mental health responder from entering, and insisted on confronting Maria & Mitchell themselves.

Testimony from apartment complex owner Gavin Delaney can be found below;

“Everything you’ve showed me is accurate” Gavin Delaney, owner of the apartment complex told The Defender. “It’s all accurate. I am the assistant property manager of the complex and was there in Mitchell’s apartment minutes before shots rang out. I stumbled upon the initial incident while the grandmother was on the phone with 911. I just wanted to add, that while in the apartment, Mitchell was essentially forced into trying to get the baby out of the room. It started with the cop asking mitchell if he’d help, and his response was I don’t want to be involved, I’m not an aggressor I don’t want to escalate things. The cops that responded, were muscular/large individuals. You’re telling me they couldn’t wrestle that tiny woman who had a baby and allegedly a knife? Shots should never have been fired in the first place. When we were standing inside the police tape, they were very rude to the family members (sister ashley and grandfather brian) who were outside. It was truly shocking how fast things turned. When they were talking to both parties in the apartment everything was cordial and there was no reason for escalation. They even had a co responder for mental health and she didn’t even go into the apartment which very much could’ve changed the outcome.

Maria’s boyfriend and Destiny’s father, Mitchell Holder, spoke to The Kansas City Defender in his first interview since the horrific killings. His voice trembled as he recounted the events that unfolded that day, 

“Yes, I was in the room when it all happened,” he began. “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.”

Despite Holder’s firsthand testimony, bodycam footage does indeed show Maria wielding a knife in her final moments. Holder described how he tried to reason with police through the door before the violence erupted. “Before they came in, I asked if we could talk through the door. I didn’t want my baby Destiny to be around the cops with their weapons out like that,” he said, his voice breaking. “But ultimately, they came in.” Much of this is excluded from the highly edited bodycam footage released by cops.

What followed was a nightmare.

“You Killed Her!”

He paused, collecting himself before continuing. “I know she died instantly. There was a huge hole in her head.”

The horror didn’t end there. Holder described how Maria, Destiny’s mother, reacted in the moments after her baby was shot.

“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. That’s my understanding of how she died.”

The brutality of the police’s actions has left the apartment complex—and an entire community—in shock and outrage.

Eyewitnesses Completely Dispute Police Claims

The Independence Police Department’s narrative hinges on one claim: that they shot Maria Pike because she allegedly had a knife in her hand at the time she was murdered.

Talisa, who initially made the 911 call, told The Defender “I was in the apartment when I got assaulted, and there was no weapons at all, none whatsoever.”

Whether or not Maria had a knife will ultimately only be revealed when body camera footage is released, but even if she did have a knife, grandfather Brian says “I don’t get it. Even if she did have a knife, how you got two big burly guys, police officers wearing bulletproof vests, and they supposedly can’t take a knife away from a little bitty woman. That don’t make no damn sense. Why did you feel like you had to pull out your deadly weapon and shoot this woman while she had a baby in her arms?” 

Grandmother Talisa lamented the horrifying fact she’ll never get to hold her granddaughter again. “She was an infant. She had a life. She didn’t even know how to walk, talk, anything, and now she ain’t gonna be able to because she’s gone. She was a happy baby. I’ve been around baby Destiny since she was born, until now, and I can’t hold my granddaughter in my arms anymore and see her smile when I say, Grandma, you know. Nothing can replace that.”

 “Screaming For My Life”: Neighbor Describes Terror of Police Breaking Into Wrong Apartment & Holding at Gunpoint

The actions of the Independence police weren’t confined to the brutal killing of Maria Pike and her baby. Bug Arnold, who lives in the same building, witnessed and endured their own horrifying encounter with officers that same day, when police, in their reckless and militarized frenzy, burst into Bug’s apartment. 

Speaking to The Kansas City Defender, Bug recalled watching from their bedroom window as police stormed the scene, rifles drawn, exuding a readiness to shoot before even entering the building.

“They led with their guns the entire time,” Bug said. “From the moment they jumped out of their cars, it was as if they were ready to kill.” Bug described how officers violently busted open their front door so aggressively that it knocked the wreath into the living room, breaking it. 

I don’t know exactly what they had, but it was just like the real big guns they were holding, like this. And the first cop was like holding his gun to the side, which I, I don’t think that’s necessary. But they the entire time, led with the gun, from the time they got out of the car to the time that they came in.

Here, they opened my door so aggressively that my like, wreath from the front door came into the living room, and it was like a big piece of it was broken off. And I don’t know how that happened, but it took about, like three, three times for me, of me, explaining the situation for them to, like, actually leave, and just the entire time they had their guns on me, I, I wasn’t sure what to do. I was just frantically, like, waving my arms, like, Oh my God! No! No! You have the wrong house! You have the wrong house! And then they accused me of, like, doing something to their officer, like, “where’s my officer!” What’d you do with my officer!” I said “I don’t know where your officer is, sir. I assume he’s in the other apartment, because you have the wrong apartment.”

And after that, he seemed to, like, finally kind of get it in his head, and then he said, “we got the wrong apartment!” and then they just stormed out. And I was nobody.

The trauma of that night lingers deeply for Bug. Blood splatters—evidence of the officer carrying Destiny’s lifeless body—stained the hallway floors and walls for days. “It’s disgusting,” Bug recounted. “Walking in and out of the building, stepping over a baby’s blood, it haunts you.” 

Community Members Suspect Police Engaging in A “Cover-Up”

In the immediate aftermath, Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman convened a hasty press conference that can only be described as a state-sanctioned disinformation campaign. 

Standing before the cameras, Dustman confidently asserted that Maria Pike was “armed”—a claim directly contradicted by eyewitnesses and unsubstantiated by any evidence thus far. 

“When we arrived, officers encountered a female who ultimately was armed with a knife,” Dustman said. “And as a result of that encounter, it resulted in two fatalities, one to the armed female and one to a child.” Body camera footage does in fact contradict this statement, as when they initially encountered Maria she did not have a knife.

While apparently able to know with certainty within hours of the tragedy that Maria was allegedly “armed,” he refused to answer the simplest and most basic question: did his officers kill an infant. “I cannot confirm any of that,” Dustman stated. “I’m not going to identify or get into any sort of ages or anything like that.” 

How could Police Chief Dustman be so certain about the presence of a knife, but refuse to confirm the very basic fact of whether the victim was an infant—despite being explicitly told by the grandmother that a baby was present and despite an officer carrying out Destiny’s lifeless body in plain view? 

This blatant evasion to acknowledge they murdered an infant, coupled with his willingness to perpetuate an unproven narrative that Maria was “armed”, is being interpreted by many as an orchestrated effort to manipulate public perception, criminalizing Maria Pike as to appear the cause of her and her baby’s own deaths, and to obscure the horrifying reality of the botched, merciless killing that transpired. 

Not only did Police Chief Dustman refuse to answer basic questions about the shooting, but he then attempted to paint this as a “broader issue of violence against children in our community.” As if the officers who slaughtered a baby by shooting her in the head weren’t the most pressing example of that violence.

The Execution: Restraining Mental Health Responders & A Calculated Act of Terror

Not only did the cops enter the home before allowing the mental health co-responders who had been dispatched to engage, but Police Chief Dustman openly admitted to restraining the mental health responders from engaging, saying it would not be appropriate for this situation. 

The blood-drenched stairwell further exposes the story the police appear committed to obscure. Photos obtained by The Defender show crimson streaks trailing down the stairs, a horrifying testament to the officer who carried Destiny’s body out after the slaughter. 

The Fascist Violence of Policing

What happened to Maria Pike and Destiny Hope is not an isolated incident—it is a symptom of a broader system of state violence and impunity.

Even if Maria did in fact have a knife, there is no conceivable scenario where responding by shooting a woman holding an infant, is a reasonable response. This is the reality of policing in America: a system that meets desperation with brutality, and silence with propaganda.

A Community’s Call to Action

As The Defender continues to investigate this horrifying tragedy, we are reminded that the vicious brutality of policing transcends race. While we typically focus on issues directly impacting Black communities, this case makes clear the broader violence inherent in policing, especially in poor and working-class cities like Independence.

This family—impoverished, struggling with severe mental health challenges—was met not with compassion but with lethal force.

“To the police department, I want to say this: own up to what you did,” Felisha Holder, Mitchell’s sister told The Defender in an interview, her voice unwavering despite the grief weighing on her family.

Maria Pike, struggling with postpartum depression, needed help that day. “She needed help,” said Felisha. “The cops weren’t here to help her.” Instead, Independence police escalated the situation, murdering a helpless mother and her infant.

The family has vowed to keep fighting for justice. “We can’t keep having these officers kill our loved ones and our community members” Felisha declared. “I was out there protesting in 2020, I know what the police do. I saw what they did to George Floyd and many others, we can’t keep letting them get away with this.”

A GoFundMe has been created to cover funeral expenses for Destiny, with relatives determined to give the infant “a beautiful funeral.” Click here to make a donation. The fundraiser post echoes the family’s anguish: “The cops didn’t even negotiate with the mentally unstable woman. They made a bad decision by shooting a woman with a baby in her arms.”

The family’s call for accountability remains urgent, as they turn their mourning into a powerful demand for change. “We will not stop,” Felisha said. “Justice for Maria and Destiny is the only option.”

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