Harrowing body camera footage showed the moment a Chicago police officer fatally shot his own partner.

Carlos Baker and his partner Krystal Rivera, 36, had been chasing a suspect through an apartment building in the Chatham neighborhood at around 9.50pm on June 5, 2025 when Baker shot Rivera in what police have described as a fatal accident.

Rivera's family has disputed that claim in a wrongful death suit against Baker and the Chicago Police Department in the case, alleging he failed to attend to his partner and that police personnel were aware there was a volatile history between him and Rivera - with whom he had been romantically involved.

Amid the suit, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released footage from Baker's body-worn camera on Friday.

It showed he and Rivera getting out of a vehicle and running toward a man outside of an apartment building, demanding he 'freeze' and raise his hands.

But the man instead ducked into the building and bounded up the stairs, with Baker and Rivera pursuing close behind.

As Baker made his way up the stairs, with Rivera on his tail, the suspect - who was later identified as Adrian Rucker - ducked into an apartment.

Baker then kicked down the door as the suspect proceeded to flip over the couch.

At that point, another man -  later identified as Jaylin Arnold - could be seen exiting a room with a long gun in hand.

Baker appeared to quickly react, turning and firing one shot - and Rivera fell to the ground. 

Meanwhile, Baker ran up the stairs, where he caught his breath before asking: 'Krystal are you OK?'

When he did not receive an answer, Baker could be heard calling for an ambulance and asserting: 'I can't get my partner!'

He also asked another resident of the building to call 911. 

But about two minutes later, Baker could be seen going to check on his partner before additional units arrived on the scene to transport her to a local hospital. 

Colleagues brought Rivera, a mother-of-one, to University of Chicago Medical Center in a squad car that crashed and caught fire because of a malfunction, according to Police Superintendent Larry Snelling. 

She was then transported in another squad car, and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

An ensuing autopsy found that the fatal shot pierced Rivera's skin and traveled through both her lungs, wedging itself in her ribs, the Chicago Tribune reports.

When he was later questioned about what happened that night, Baker told investigators: 'I thought I was about to die in that doorway because action - as we're taught - action beats reaction.

'I dove out of the way and that was when I heard a "pop,"' he said according to a transcript of the interview obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. 

Baker also claimed he only realized he was the one who shot Rivera when he checked his service weapon at police headquarters and noticed a bullet was missing.

'I was lost and confused. I was in denial that I even fired my gun,' he recounted.

The cop then insisted he was 'best friends' with Rivera and that he 'would never' intentionally shoot her, saying he was willing to risk his life for Rivera and remembered thinking: 'I will die for her, that I had to get to her.'

'I just want to speak to Krystal and say "I love you" and that "I miss you,"' he said. '"I will never forget you... I won't let you down, I promise." That's it.' 

Officers who reviewed the footage said it appeared Baker acted appropriately.

'I mean, if they saw the individual, they had a good description, they were in direct pursuit of the individual, then you don't want to wait because you don't know who else you're putting in jeopardy in that building,' said ABC 7 Police Affairs Consultant Bill Kushner, who worked as a tactical officer in the same district as Baker and Rivera.

He noted that it appeared the two officers had entered a 'fatal funnel.'

'Those buildings are literal, just kill zones,' Kushner said. 'Every, every, every staircase is a kill zone and there's no good way to get into any apartment or chase anyone in there.'

John Catanzara, head of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, also defended Baker's actions as he encouraged the cop to consider filing his own lawsuit against the firm representing the Rivera family.

'Many officers would have run down the... stairs possibly right away, subjecting themselves to then get shot,' he argued. 'And then you'd have two shot officers on the staircase if the offenders were still in the apartment.' 

But attorneys representing Rivera's family in their wrongful death suit have claimed there is more to the story. 

In a lengthy statement following the release of the footage on Friday, lawyer Antonio Romanucci said 'this is NOT all of the body-worn video footage from the event.

'What has been released is a curated narrative meant to invent a false truth,' he said, arguing, 'All body-worn footage is essential to the public understanding the full scope of this tragedy.'

Romanucci added that his firm will conduct a full forensic video audit and analysis to investigate the released footage, saying: 'We do not have confidence that this investigation is being handled in a fair and objective manner.

'We call for an independent investigation into Krystal's death and the CPD conduct that has followed,' the lawyer said. 'Indeed, we are suspicious of why the videos are released while the investigation is underway.'

COPA is not commenting on the allegations, but sources told ABC 7 Rivera's body-worn camera was cut off to maintain dignity in her final moments. 

Still, Romanucci argued that 'Carlos Baker was unfit to be a Chicago Police Officer and that CPD put Krystal at risk by giving him a badge and a gun.

'Moreso, he failed in his duty to render life-saving aid to Krystal after he shot her.'

Baker had been the subject of more than a dozen misconduct complaints by the time he shot and killed Rivera, the Sun-Times reports.

He accrued five of those complaints when he was a probationary officer, when he could have been summarily fired because he had few union protections.

At that time, Baker was accused of flashing a gun at a woman he had met online while she was on a date with another man. But the woman refused to cooperate with authorities, and Baker faced no disciplinary action in that case.

He then applied to the Gresham District's tactical team in March 2024, but Patrol Chief Jon Hein quashed his promotion, citing his disciplinary history.

Baker then ran into even more trouble before applying for the position once again.

He failed to activate his lights or sirens as he chased a stolen car in June 2024 that ultimately went flying into the air and wrecked six other vehicles.

Baker then accidentally fired his Taser while chasing the driver over a fence. As a result of the crash, Baker was docked two days of pay.

But he reapplied for the tactical team in January 2025, after getting the backing of district commander Michael Tate, who has since been promoted to street deputy, a high-ranking position responsible for responding and commanding the scene at major events citywide. 

After becoming partners, Rivera's family said the two were in an on-and-off relationship for nearly two years, Fox 32 reports.

But when Rivera found out that Baker was living with another woman while dating Rivera, she threatened to tell his live-in girlfriend about their relationship, her mother alleges in the lawsuit.

It further claims that Baker showed up uninvited at Rivera's home the day before he shot her, and that following the shooting, he failed to provide medical aid or acknowledge he was the shooter.

Baker, though, told investigators he and Rivera had 'no more than' three intimate encounters and denied they were ever in a 'relationship.'

He said even suggested they continue to work as partners on the tactical team and said they kept hanging out after they were in separate relationships.  

The cop, who was relieved of his duties last summer following reports that he battered another 29-year-old off-duty cop and allegedly attempted to interfere in the internal investigation into that complaint, also claimed he didn't 'have time to render aid.'

'It wasn't going to work.  I knew she had to get to a Level 1 trauma center to surgery, effective immediately,' he insisted.

When he was later asked about his decision to climb the stairs away from where the gunfire came from, Baker said he was shielding himself from what he thought was 'the line of fire, where the rifle was initially pointed at me.'

When he was then asked how long he stayed at the top of the stairs, Baker replied: 'The whole night felt like seconds.

'It all felt like it happened in a second. So I don't recall. I don't know.' 

In a previous statement to the Tribune, Baker's attorney, Tim Grace, expressed grief and sympathy to Rivera's family, but placed the blame for her death on the suspect they were chasing.

He said at the time that the then-unreleased body camera footage would refute the Rivera family's claims.

'The facts are clear that Officer Baker breached the door on that fateful night and was facing the lethal end of a rifle,' he said. 'While moving to seek cover and unbeknownst to him, his weapon unintentionally discharged, striking Krystal.

'The true facts will reveal that Carlos immediately called for EMS, carried Krystal to safety and ensured she was being transported to the hospital. He then re-entered the apartment to apprehend the offenders.

'The body-worn camera videos will support these facts and challenge the accuracy and veracity of the allegations made in the complaint,' Grace said.

A hearing on the nine-count wrongful death suit is scheduled for early June.

In the meantime, the offenders in the case - Rucker and Arnold - face an array of narcotics charges in connection with the shooting - but neither face a count of murder.

They remain in the Cook County Jail as their cases remain pending.