By Simon Gutierrez – KTRK –
26-year-old Jordan Baker took his last breath in a trash-strewn alley behind a Northwest Houston strip center, after he was shot and killed by an off-duty Houston police officer.
His mother, Janet Baker, has heard what the Police Department said about the shooting, that the officer thought Jordan matched the description of some robbery suspects, who had recently held up three different stores in the strip center. Baker, like the suspects, was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt that night.
“He’s not the way they portrayed him,” said Janet Baker. “He’s a father. He’s grandson. He’s a son. And he was just taken away.”
According to police reports, an off-duty officer working security at the strip center, which is at the intersection of Antoine Drive and West Little York Road, Thursday night when he saw Jordan Baker riding his bike through the parking lot and peeking into businesses. When the officer asked Baker for an I.D., he said there was a scuffle, and a footchase, with the officer finally cornering Baker in the alley. The officer told investigators Baker charged toward him, and that’s when he fired his gun.
“I don’t believe that’s what occurred,” said Janet Baker. “I think that’s him trying justify the outcome of what happened.”
Baker said her son was a student at Houston Community College. He had a young son, also named Jordan, who is just seven years old. She said Jordan hadn’t been in trouble since he was in high school ten years ago, and even that wasn’t serious enough to stay on his record.
