Lawyer: Baltimore police knew mother killed in standoff was mentally ill

BALTIMORE -- A lawyer for the family of a Baltimore woman who was fatally shot by police in a 2016 standoff says police knew she was mentally ill.

The Baltimore Sun reports that's how attorney J. Wyndal Gordon opened the Tuesday civil trial in Korryn Gaines' family's lawsuit against the county and officer who killed her.

Officers arrived at Gaines' apartment that day to serve warrants to her and her fiancé. The warrant for Gaines was for her alleged failure to appear over a traffic violation, the Baltimore Sun reports, and the warrant for her fiance was related to an alleged domestic-violence incident. The fiancé surrendered, but Gaines armed herself and refused to come out. Police say she posted videos of the standoff to Facebook before the shooting and police contacted Facebook and requested that her social media profiles be deactivated.

Attorneys for the county say Gaines had her gun in a firing position when she was shot, and that she had been using her son "as a shield." Gaines' 5-year-old son was injured in the shooting.

Police said the standoff ended when Gaines, 23, pointed the gun directly at officer Royce Ruby Jr. and said, "If you don't leave, I'm going to kill you." That's when the officer shot at the woman, police said, and Gaines fired two shots, but didn't strike any officer. Officers then returned fire, according to Johnson, striking and killing Gaines.

"She risked her own life and the life of her son," assistant county attorney Jordan V. Watts Jr. reportedly told jurors. "Miss Gaines' behavior determined the outcome of this case."

Gaines' family attorneys dispute that her gun was raised, reports the Baltimore Sun.

"She was ill," Gordon said, according to the paper. "That mental illness, it takes you away from reality."

The lawsuit contains claims including excessive force and wrongful death.

County prosecutors had previously found the shooting to be justified and didn't file criminal charges in the case.