Police Officer Bodycam Reveals Fatal Shooting

Chicago’s police oversight agency released body-camera footage on April 17 showing Officer Krystal Rivera being fatally shot by her partner during a June 5, 2025 foot chase in Chatham. (chicagocopa.org) The video shows Rivera and Officer Carlos Baker chasing a man into an apartment building in the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue before Baker kicks in a door and confronts another man holding a rifle. Rivera, 36, was a four-year Chicago Police Department veteran. (wbez.org, nbcnews.com) NBC News reported Baker’s bodycam captures him saying “Wait” and “Oh” as he falls back and a single shot is heard, while Rivera’s camera shows her running directly behind him in the hallway. Baker then runs upstairs, radios “shots fired at the police,” and returns to Rivera after 1 minute, 44 seconds. (nbcnews.com) COPA said it had been blocked from releasing the material by a June 13, 2025 court order in *People v. Adrian Rucker* until that order was vacated on March 27, 2026. The agency posted body-worn camera video, third-party video, emergency radio traffic, tactical response reports and case reports after the ruling changed. (chicagocopa.org) An Illinois Appellate Court panel said Cook County Judge Barbara Dawkins had applied the wrong law when she denied requests from media organizations to lift the protective order. The judges also said their ruling did not automatically require release if parties in the criminal case could show a new basis for secrecy. (yahoo.com) The footage answers a question that had hung over the case for more than 10 months: whether Rivera was shot by a suspect or by another officer. Chicago police said three days after the shooting that an officer had discharged a weapon and fatally struck Rivera, and COPA has investigated the case as an unintentional discharge. (nbcnews.com, nbcchicago.com) Rivera’s family has challenged that account in court. A wrongful-death lawsuit filed in December says Baker turned and shot Rivera in the back after kicking in the apartment door, and her mother has said the two officers had previously been in a romantic relationship. (nbcchicago.com, nbcnews.com) Baker’s lawyer, Timothy Grace, said the shooting was accidental and happened as Baker moved for cover while facing the muzzle of a rifle. Grace said the officers’ heights, positions and the angle of Baker’s service weapon created a “unique, dynamic and deadly circumstance.” (nbcnews.com) Baker has been stripped of police powers but has not been charged with a crime. The newly public video now sits alongside the civil lawsuit, COPA’s investigation and the criminal cases tied to the chase that ended with Rivera’s death. (yahoo.com, nbcnews.com)