Home | BaltimoreBrew.com
Crime & Justiceby Fern Shen4:51 pmSep 1, 20160

Officer who shot Gaines shot man in 2007 incident

Baltimore County police officer Ruby identified as shooter of 23-year-old woman last month

Above: Korryn Gaines was shot by a Baltimore County Police officer after an armed standoff at a Randallstown apartment. (Family photo, Twitter)

Baltimore County Police have identified the officer who shot Korryn Gaines last month after an armed stand-off: “Officer First Class Ruby of the Support Operations Division.”

In addition to fatally shooting the 23-year-old in her Randallstown apartment, Ruby shot Gaines’ five-year-old son, Kodi. (The boy was injured in multiple places on his body. Ballistics evidence from the child’s cheek was confirmed to have come from the officer’s weapon.)

Ruby, who has served 16 years with the department, was not identified by first name by police officials, who cite the county’s agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #4.

Officers involved in such shootings are typically identified within days, but police said they would delay doing so in this case, citing what they said were an unusually large number of “threats against specific officers” and “anti-government sentiment.”

Spokeswoman Elise Armacost said that Ruby was “involved in one prior police-involved shooting, in August 2007,” the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Adam Benjamin Rothstein in the 8700 block of Avondale Road in Parkville.

Father: “It Did Not Have to go That Far”

In that August 19, 2007 case, Armacost said, dispatchers “received a call for a suicidal subject who told 911 he had two guns and some knives, pepper spray and a taser.”

Police found him near Parkville Middle School, where “the Negotiations Team began a dialogue with him,” Armacost said.

“The suspect eventually issued an ultimatum that he would start shooting if he didn’t get what he wanted by 3:30 a.m. At 3:29 a.m., he raised his handgun and pointed it at officers.”

Ruby was one of the two tactical officers who discharged their weapons. The gun Rothstein was carrying later was found to be a BB gun.

Armacost said the 2007 shooting was ruled “justified.”

Rothstein’s father, Richard Rothstein, told the Baltimore Sun at the time that he had never heard his son talk about suicide.

Rothstein told the newspaper he thought police inflamed the situation with his son by calling in members of the tactical team and canine unit.

“It did not have to get that far,” he said. “Someone says I’m sick, I need help, and please just get me to a hospital. That’s what you do. That’s all you have to do.”

Family members told the paper that the 24-year-old was diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a child.

Holding a Shotgun

The August 1 shooting of Gaines occurred after police had come to serve her with a bench warrant in connection with minor traffic and other violations.

Police, who kicked in the door to her apartment on the unit block of Sulky Court, said they found Gaines sitting on the floor holding a shotgun, her son nearby.

They said Gaines demanded that they leave and at one point threatened to kill them.

They said Gaines also at times wielded her gun at the officers.

Most Popular