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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The mother of a woman fatally shot by Virginia Beach police said Tuesday that her daughter was not armed and the shooting was unjustified.
Gina Best of Columbia, Maryland, said her daughter, 28-year-old India Kager of College Park, Maryland, had been in Virginia Beach only a couple of hours before the shooting occurred.
"She was unarmed. She was completely innocent. They shot indiscriminately," Best told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Kager and Angelo Delano Perry, 35, of Virginia Beach, died following an exchange of gunfire with officers Saturday night outside a convenience store, police said. Officers had received information about a person of interest in a homicide and as they approached a vehicle outside the store, someone inside fired at them, police said. The officers returned fire, killing Kager and Perry.
An infant inside the vehicle, who wasn't injured, was placed in the protective care of Child Protective Services. Best said the infant is Kager's 4-month-old son, Roman, and that Kager's grandmother went to Virginia Beach to get him. Kager also was the mother of a 4-year-old son.
"I have to refer to my baby in the past tense. That absolutely sends my psyche into a realm of darkness that I never wanted to experience," Best said.
Kager had served in the Navy as a culinary specialist from 2009 to 2013 in Virginia Beach and in Pensacola, Florida, and was awarded a good conduct medal, the Navy said. Best said her daughter recently got a job as a postal carrier in the Washington, D.C., area.
Kager also played several musical instruments, she said.
She said Kager's father and grandfather are both retired police officers.
Police said the officers are white and Kager and Perry were black.
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