Following a series of high-profile incidents in which fatal shootings by police were live streamed on Facebook, law enforcement officials are pushing back by limiting the ability of suspects to
broadcast these encounters to the world. In the latest such example, on Monday police in Baltimore County made an emergency request to Facebook to suspend the account of Korryn Gaines, age 23, during
an armed standoff which ultimately resulted in her death.
Baltimore County Police came to Gaines’ apartment in Randallstown, Maryland to serve arrest warrants for her and her boyfriend
for earlier incidents of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault. Her boyfriend complied, taking a one-year-old boy out of the apartment with him and submitting to arrest.
However
Gaines, who had a history of impulsive and irrational behavior, refused to leave the apartment and barricaded herself inside along with her 5-year-old-son. Subsequently she began posting live
streaming video of the standoff on Facebook and Instagram, including one exchange with her son where she asks the boy what the police are doing and he replies, “They trying to kill us.”
A number of Gaines’ online contacts began responding to the videos with comments encouraging her to continue the standoff, according to officers monitoring her social media accounts, at
which point the Baltimore County Police Department made the emergency request to Facebook. The company immediately complied by taking Gaines’ Facebook and Instagram profiles offline.
Finally, Gaines pointed a shotgun at one of the officers and said, “If you don’t leave, I’m going to kill you.” The officer responded by shooting at her and Gaines returned
fire but missed, and was finally killed by fire from all the officers. The boy received light injuries and is being treated in a hospital.
There are a number of justifications for blocking
social media access during potentially violent situations. In addition to social media contacts encouraging suspects not to comply with police, as in this case, access to social sites holds out the
possibility that armed suspects might gather information about the number and position of police officers from live streaming video or texts from accomplices observing the situation.