Disturbing new police bodycam footage captured the second a Chicago cop fatally shot his companion throughout a chaotic pursuit – then waited almost two minutes earlier than checking on her as he took cowl.
The unsettling movies, launched Friday by the town’s Civilian Workplace of Police Accountability, present Officer Carlos Baker hearth the lethal shot at Officer Krystal Rivera final yr inside an condominium constructing earlier than working away as she lay unconscious and bleeding on the ground.
The footage exhibits Baker and Rivera coming into the Chatham condominium constructing and chasing an armed man up a flight of stairs round 9:50 p.m. on June 5, 2025.
Baker, a number of steps forward of his companion, kicked open an condominium door and was met by a person aiming what gave the impression to be a rifle on the doorway, inflicting him to seemingly stumble earlier than firing a shot instantly behind him that struck Rivera, the bodycam footage exhibits.
Baker then sprinted up a stairwell, frantically radioing “photographs fired at police,” earlier than shouting “Krystal, you good” about 20 seconds later to no response.
He then briefly crept down the steps, acknowledging over the radio his companion had been shot and wanted an ambulance, earlier than retreating again to the touchdown and calling for SWAT, the alarming footage exhibits.
About 90 seconds later, he ran again downstairs and dragged Rivera’s limp and bloodied physique down one other flight to the foyer, the place he was met by responding officers who rendered support.
Rivera, 36, a four-year veteran of the division, died at a hospital lower than an hour after being shot.
An post-mortem report discovered she was shot within the again and dominated her loss of life a murder – regardless of the division branding the deadly incident as pleasant hearth.
Police mentioned Baker was the one one who fired a weapon through the frenzied chase.
The sufferer’s household filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit in opposition to the Chicago Police Division in December, alleging Baker had been grappling with Rivera’s resolution to finish their two-year romantic relationship when she was killed, in line with the Chicago Solar-Instances.
Additionally they claimed he was unfit to be a cop and will have been axed earlier than he unloaded his weapon.
The embattled officer – who reportedly has been the topic of greater than a dozen misconduct complaints – advised the Civilian Officer of Police Accountability he and Rivera had solely been intimate thrice and denied having a relationship.
Baker advised investigators that he and Rivera had been “greatest buddies” and “would by no means” deliberately shoot her — stressing that he would “die for her,” the outlet reported.
John Catanzara, head of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, reportedly defended Baker’s actions after the bodycam footage was launched.
Rivera’s household, nevertheless, mentioned that Baker “left her to die.”
“We reassert that Carols Baker was unfit to be a Chicago Police Officer and that CPD put Krystal in danger by giving him a badge and a gun,” attorneys for Rivera’s household mentioned in an announcement, FOX 32 Chicago reported.
“Extra so, he failed in his responsibility to render life-saving support to Krystal after he shot her. What is evident from each the content material of the particular video and the style during which it’s being conveyed to the general public, is that Krystal deserved higher from CPD.”
