Chicago Officer Kills Partner in Friendly Fire Pursuit

Chicago Police Officer Carlos Baker fatally shot his partner, Officer Krystal Rivera, during a foot pursuit of an armed suspect inside an apartment building in the city's Chatham neighborhood on June 5, 2025, according to body camera footage released Friday by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

The incident occurred around 9:50 p.m. in the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue. Rivera, a 36-year-old four-year veteran of the department with a young daughter, and Baker were responding to a report of a person with a gun when the suspect fled into the building. The officers followed up a flight of stairs, with Baker ahead. As Baker kicked open an apartment door, he encountered a man pointing what appeared to be a rifle. In the chaotic moment, Baker fired a single shot behind him, striking Rivera in the back as she trailed closely. The bullet entered near her left armpit, passed through both lungs and lodged in her ribs, according to autopsy records from the Cook County medical examiner's office. Her death was ruled a homicide, though police described it as friendly fire, with Baker the only officer to discharge a weapon.

Baker immediately radioed dispatch, reporting shots...