Virginia police are under scrutiny after killing an unarmed woman after pursuing her boyfriend over Labor Day weekend.
Virginia Beach Police Chief Jim Cervera told the Associated Press on Tuesday that police were monitoring Angelo Perry, 35, as a suspect in a homicide investigation.
Officers pursued the couple’s car for nearly 30 minutes before they parked near a local 7-Eleven. Police approached the vehicle and within 15 seconds, gunfire broke out.
No officers were harmed and police said that only one bullet grazed one officer’s uniform. Police fired a total of 30 shots, killing Mr Perry and his girlfriend India Kager, 28, while their 6-month-old daughter sat in the backseat unharmed.
India Best appears in her Navy uniform. (Gina Best/Facebook)
During a press conference, Chief Cervera admit that killing Ms Kager, the mother of two children, was a mistake.
“India Kager was sitting directly next to Mr Perry as the officers were firing. It was incidental. It was accidental. It was not intended but they were right on top of each other as he was firing his weapon at the officers,” he said.
From 2009 to 2013, Ms Kager served in the Navy as a culinary specialist in both Virginia and Florida. She was recently hired as a postal carrier in the Washington DC.
Gina Best, Ms Kager’s mother, told the Washington Post that she believes her daughter was completely innocent.
“It was very clear to me that India was not part of the police investigation based on the responses I got from police. She had nothing to do with it. She was totally innocent," she said.
“Did they find any weapons on India? Did she pose a threat? Why did [police] shoot into a car with a baby and woman who had nothing to do with their investigation?”
Ms Best told WAVY-TV that her daughter was a kind-hearted person and an even better mother.
“We are not speaking of a young girl who would go out and look for trouble. She never incited that.”
The four unnamed officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, which is normal procedure for most police departments across the states.
