ORLANDO, Fla. – A Northern Kentucky man was fatally shot Monday at an Orlando hospital.
The shooting happened Monday morning at Orlando Regional Medical Center, investigators said.
Brian Baker, 33, of Covington, Kentucky, was shot and killed early Monday. Investigators said he was taken to the hospital for a medical condition and at some point began to make threats to himself and others.
Baker was on his way home to Kentucky from West Palm Beach.
“He called us and said he needed to get help. He needed to get his mind right. He wanted to come home,” said his brother, Joshua Baker.
His brother and father bought him a bus ticket that had a layover in Orlando.
While there, he was taken to the hospital for a medical condition. Then, things escalated.
According to Orlando police Chief John Mina, Baker claimed he was armed and told hospital staff he would “shoot anyone who came near him” and “it was going to end right here today.”
Negotiators began communicating with Baker, but Mina said negotiations ended when nearby patients needed immediate treatment.
Baker did not have a gun but made movements “consistent with retrieving a firearm,” Mina said.
Three police officers shot and killed him.
Baker had been admitted as a patient at the hospital and his family believes this situation could have ended differently.
“It could have been prevented in a million ways, and that’s what’s making me so mad. He should still be here,” Joshua Baker said.
The family is emotional, angry and hurting.
“Because of verbal threats? You don’t Taser him? You don’t do nothing, you just shoot him? Three officers shoot bullets into him,” said Joshua Baker.
Baker was the oldest of six brothers.
Now, those same men are searching for answers.
“Learned together, grew together. Yeah, it hurts. Know what i mean? (He was) my best friend,” Joshua Baker said.
“There’s a lot of good stories about Brian. A lot of people love him. A lot of people’s gonna miss him. What they did wasn’t right,” said Ryan Baker, another brother of the victim.
It’s unclear if Baker was searched when he was admitted.
News outlets in Orlando report the hospital will only say it followed protocol.
Brian Baker’s family is now working to get his body back to northern Kentucky.
Baker did not have ties to the Orlando area.
No one else was injured.
Mina said three officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting.