Inset: Kentre Baker (GoFundMe). Background: Police at the Las Vegas apartment complex where they say Kentre Baker, 3, was shot and killed by his father (KVVU/YouTube).
Nevada police say a fight between parents in Las Vegas escalated into the shooting death of their 3-year-old son, with his father blasting the boy in the head after telling his mother "I'm blowing the child's brains out." Audio recordings from 911 calls made that night describe how the dad also tried to kill the mom and shot at her friend's car.
"He's not in his right mind," said Raneka Pate, mother of slain toddler Kentre Baker, in a 911 call obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"He's trying to take my son," the woman told police around 1:18 a.m. on Feb. 3 about Kentre's father, Quinton Baker, who was killed by law enforcement officers after opening fire on the child.
Pate alleged that Baker had assaulted a friend of hers and then "tried to kill" her following an argument at their apartment in the 8400 block of South Maryland Parkway, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the 911 calls obtained by the Review-Journal. She said Baker walked out to his vehicle with Kentre and attempted to place the boy inside.
When Pate tried taking Kentre out of the vehicle, Baker shot at her and her friend's vehicle, the Review-Journal reports. Police told local NBC affiliate KSNV that the parents had gotten into a fight that kept escalating throughout the night.
"A couple were out here screaming and arguing with each other," a witness reported seeing in a 911 call placed around 1:29 a.m., per the Review-Journal.
"Eventually, a man came out with a gun and a kid," the witness said. "He threw the kid in a blue Ford … but before he peeled out of here, he took a shot at the white BMW with a gun."
Police say Baker returned to the apartment with Kentre and then started fighting with Pate again before walking outside and confronting police while holding the boy.
"He's threatening to kill me and my son," Pate said in a second 911 call. "He literally beat me …. He's crazy. He's in the house with him."
Body camera footage shows Baker cradling and holding Kentre in his arms while pointing a gun at him, according to police. "The child was struck in the head by a close contact gunshot wound when the suspect discharged his weapon," said Clark County Assistant Sheriff Bryan Peterson at a Feb. 5 press conference.
Peterson told reporters that during their investigation, Pate alleged to police that Baker told her, "If you don't tell them to call this s— off, and if they try to come up these stairs I'm blowing the child's brains out and I'm blowing mine out. You won't have neither one of us."
Peterson added, "That child was being held hostage, and the suspect's intent was clearly stated by him to the mother several times. He was going to kill that child and then kill himself."
Officers who arrived on scene ended up shooting Baker to death after he opened fire on Kentre. While the boy was shot once in the leg by police, Peterson said the coroner reported his death as being caused by a shot fired by Baker.
"In this situation, officers have milliseconds to make a decision," Peterson told reporters. "Their ultimate goal is to save that baby's life. That suspect chose those actions and followed through with what his intent was. He killed his son."
Pate has blamed the shooting on police and retained a Las Vegas lawyer, Ofelia Markarian, who plans to hold a press conference at a later date, according to the Review-Journal. "I told police officers that the person was very agitated, and that if they could do anything to calm or deescalate the situation, without any lethal force because he did have my son in his possession," Pate told KSNV.
The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending a review of what happened, according to police officials.
The review is expected to last several months.
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