Krystal Rivera shooting: Videos show Chicago police officer fatally shot by partner

**WARNING: Viewer discretion advised. Video contains graphic content that some may find disturbing** 

CHICAGO — Videos were released on Friday showing the fatal shooting of Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera by her partner last June on the city’s South Side.

Rivera, 36, died from friendly fire on June 5, 2025, while chasing a suspect inside an apartment building in the Chatham neighborhood.

Videos of Officer Krystal Rivera shooting released

The backstory:

The incident began around 9:50 p.m., when Rivera and her partner, Carlos Baker, tried to stop a man in the 8200 block of South Drexel Avenue.  The suspect, later identified as Adrian Rucker, ran into a nearby apartment building, prompting the officers to pursue him inside. 

Bodycam videos show Baker and Rivera chasing Rucker up a flight of stairs. Baker kicked open the door to an apartment Rucker ran into and video showed another man pointing what appeared to be a rifle at the doorway.

Baker’s body camera shows him falling out of the doorway and firing a shot behind him where Rivera was in pursuit.

Residents inside the building immediately called 911.

Caller: “Somebody’s shooting in this hallway.”

Dispatcher: “How many shots did you hear?”

Caller: “One… somebody is in the hallway yelling something about the police.”

After the shooting, Baker called into his radio “shots fired at police” as he retreated up another flight of stairs. He asked, “Krystal, you good?” before calling an ambulance to the scene saying, “You need an ambulance! Ambulance now! I can’t get my partner!”

Bodycam video shows Baker dragging Rivera down another flight of stairs where responding officers rendered aid.

Rucker ran from the residence but was later taken into custody. Three guns were recovered at the scene.

Rivera suffered a gunshot wound to the back and died at a nearby hospital. Her death was ruled a homicide.

What they’re saying:

Use-of-force analyst Mike Brown says the video shows how quickly training can break down under extreme stress.

“His Lee Mark training didn’t even kick in, which is what they’re taught to do when a person is shot—providing CPR, whatever the case may be,” Brown said. “His main thing is to make sure he’s not about to get shot again. That’s what he’s thinking. And I can see that happening.”

Former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson also reviewed the footage, calling it “difficult to watch,” but said it appears to show “two cops trying to do their job, and it just went horribly wrong in the blink of an eye.”

Statement from Attorney Antonio Romanucci and the Romanucci & Blandin legal team representing the family of Krystal Rivera:

“The edited video clips released by COPA today regarding the death of Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera raise a number of serious questions. The first and foremost being that 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. 

We know there is a considerable amount of body-worn camera footage in the immediate moments after Krystal was shot that has not been released. COPA and the Chicago Police Department should not select only the audio and video portions they believe relevant in order to perfect a cover story. 

All body worn footage is essential to the public understanding the full scope of this tragedy.

Our legal team, which had a prior viewing of the video, has noted at least one discrepancy between the video they saw previously and the version released today. We will conduct a full forensic video audit and analysis to investigate this concern and any others. 

COPA also today released the Tactical Response Report, or TRR, which is a standard form filed after an incident of this nature. That document includes blatant false information about the June 5th shooting.  In the narrative on page 2, it describes the incident saying: “The unknown subject discharged a firearm at the involved member causing a fatal injury.” The gun that killed Krystal was that of her Partner Carlos Baker, not one of the subjects they were pursing.  Chicago Police said publicly on June 6th that Krystal died from a bullet from her partner’s gun. This TRR report signed on June 7th, after the CPD admitted who killed Krystal, never should have been signed and submitted.

We reassert 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. More so, he failed in his duty to render life-saving aid to his Krystal after he shot her.

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. Indeed, we are suspicious of why the videos are released while an investigation is underway.  

While the release of some video footage in relation to the tragic death of Officer Krystal Rivera is an important step towards transparency, it is also a deeply painful for her family members, who continue to grieve her death and are understandably distressed by the images and sounds of her passing. Further, the sheer disrespect to Krystal’s family by not blurring Krystal’s face while she was dying retraumatizes this family and the community. Krystal is the victim.  Not Carlos Baker. 

What is clear from both the content of the actual video and the manner in which it is being conveyed to the public, is that Krystal deserved better from CPD.

Ultimately, we look forward to a jury of Krystal’s peers hearing this case in court.”

Family of Rivera sues partner, CPD

The other side:

The family of Rivera filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department and Baker last December, claiming he should never have been on the force when he fatally shot her during the chase.

The lawsuit claims that when Baker shot and killed Rivera during the chase, he was struggling to accept the end of his on-and-off nearly two-year romantic relationship with her. The family said Rivera had recently ended it.

The lawsuit also alleges that just one day before the shooting, Baker showed up at Rivera’s home uninvited.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci, who represents Rivera’s family, said that after Rivera was wounded, Baker never rendered aid, ran to a different floor of the apartment building and did not radio to dispatch that she had been shot, which goes against his training and department policy.

Romanucci said Rivera, with a weak voice, tried to alert dispatch that she’d been shot but was unable to due to the severity of her injuries.

Attorneys added that Baker “never admitted or clarified that he was the only one who discharged a weapon.”

The lawsuit also argues that Baker should never have been a police officer, citing more than a dozen misconduct complaints and three suspensions on his record.

Baker was relieved of his police powers on Aug. 15.

Partner’s history of complaints

Dig deeper:

Reporting from the Illinois Answers Project and the Chicago Sun-Times shows Baker had a long history of complaints and investigations, including an Aug. 10 incident at DSTRKT Bar on North Milwaukee Avenue where he allegedly battered a 29-year-old female off-duty Chicago police officer. He then allegedly attempted to interfere in the internal investigation into that complaint.

Romanucci previously said the department failed to act on clear red flags.

“While the Rivera family and their legal team wholly believe removing Carlos Baker’s police powers is the appropriate decision, we called for this from the earliest days after he fatally shot his police partner, Krystal Rivera,” Romanucci said in a statement.

He added that concerns about Baker “go back further than the night he killed Krystal,” and argued the “city hired this rogue police officer despite knowing he was a danger to the community while he was a probationary officer. They took affirmative action to hire Carlos Baker when the only action should have been to terminate his probation and ensure he never wore a CPD shield or carried a gun. Krystal Rivera would be alive today.”

The Rivera family’s lawsuit alleges Baker faced 11 complaints in under three years, including an allegation he showed a gun to a woman during a 2022 incident. He has also been linked to other reported incidents, including a high-speed chase that ended in a seven-car crash where police say he failed to notify anyone until afterward, and a separate case in which he was stripped of his police powers for allegedly trying to use his position to obtain video of an off-duty altercation.

We did reach out to attorneys for the Rivera family and have not heard back.

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