Inquest into death of Kitchener man shot and killed by police begins
Nearly eight years after 20-year-old Beau Baker was shot and killed by a Waterloo regional police officer, an inquest into the Kitchener man’s death is now getting underway.
Baker was fatally shot outside his Brybeck Crescent apartment on April 2, 2015.
The inquest, which is being held by video conference, started Monday morning. It’s expected to last two weeks and will include testimony from approximately 16 witnesses.
The officer who shot Baker was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by the province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in 2015.
At the end of this inquest, the jury may make recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths under similar circumstances, but there is no charge or allegation to be proven or disproven and no one is on trial.
FATAL SHOOTING
On Monday morning, the jury heard information about how Baker died.
On the evening of April 2, 2015, Baker called 911 and threatened to kill himself and harm others, including police and paramedics, the SIU found.
He warned the dispatcher he had a knife that police would have to take from him by force.
The SIU determined an officer pulled his gun, pointed it at Baker and ordered him to drop the knife.
Baker refused and began moving forward, threatening to stab the officer.
The officer fired his weapon seven times, hitting Baker with a fatal shot to his mid-abdomen.
Baker’s family said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis at the time of his death.
The family called for a coroner’s inquest in 2016, but it has taken until now for one to begin.
The first witness accounts occurred Monday afternoon.
JURY SHOWN VIDEO
On the first day, a jury was shown a video of Baker recording himself the night of the shooting.
In it, he could be heard saying, “Baker, before he goes to jail, gets killed, or goes to the psych ward because I’m going to stab a cop and I’m going to try.”
Later, Baker could be heard during a phone call with 911 threatening to kill himself and harm others – including police and paramedics – warning the dispatcher he had a knife that police would have to take from him by force.
On the call, he said “I know I need help. I know I need to be apprehended."
The call ended when the first officer arrived outside the apartment building.
The jury heard an audio recording of Baker’s female roommate.
She explained Baker was outside with a knife, and an officer was asking him to put it down.
She said “Beau said don’t come any closer.”
The jury also heard an interview with Baker's other roommate, who said the first officer to arrive drew his gun and told Baker not to move.
The roommate said, “Beau just moved one foot. And he started opening fire on him.”
The roommate said despite Baker threatening to stab the police, he never thought he would do it.
Adding: “I already know for a fact he wasn’t going to do it because Beau isn’t that kind of guy. Especially when he’s drunk, he’s not violent at all.”
In the final recording played Monday, a neighbour said he saw Baker with his hands held out like a cross while saying something about stabbing the officers.
He said Baker took three steps forward, but there was a fairly large snowbank separating him and an officer, so he was surprised when the shots were fired.
The neighbour said Baker “wasn’t running. He wasn’t charging at them. He was literally standing there with his arms out calling them on.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.