The world might've seen more of Korryn Gaines' five-hour standoff with police Monday, but Facebook granted a police request to shut off her account. The social media site deactivated Gaines' Facebook and Instagram accounts, which she was using to broadcast the standoff before she was fatally shot in Randallstown, Md. Baltimore Police Chief James Johnson says the department made the request because "followers were encouraging her not to comply with negotiators' request that she surrender peacefully," and police were about the safety of her 5-year-old son and officers, reports the Guardian. Such requests aren't exactly rare: The New York Times reports that Facebook received 855 from government entities in the last half of 2015.
But Gaines' aunt isn't buying the police explanation. "They had to assassinate her right there with her baby sitting right there, and try to paint it like she's the one that was wrong," she tells WBAL. According to Johnson, Gaines, 23, wouldn't open her apartment door when officers arrived to serve a warrant for failing to appear over a March traffic stop, which she also recorded; she later claimed police held her for two days "in isolation … with no water." When police entered her apartment with a landlord's key, Johnson says Gaines pointed a gun at officers and threatened to shoot. Gaines' aunt says the gun "was on her lap" and she only returned police fire. She was shot and killed, and her son was shot in the arm but is listed in good condition. (More police shooting stories.)
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