Brandon Baker, 20, of Rochester, was arrested by the Rochester Police Department for second degree murder on Oct. 9.
An employee at the Pit in Wilson Commons – Baker was arrested for the murder of Evan Carroll, a local Rochester resident. The homicide took place on Sept. 24 on the corner of Lake and Beach Avenue in the city.
Joseph Dominick of the RPD, has been following up on and investigating the situation.
“As of now, Baker is being held without bail,” Dominick said. “He is charged with second degree murder. That’s a big deal. He was arraigned in city court on Oct. 10 and is currently in the Monroe County Jail. Right now we are looking at the possibility of a bail in the future, but the chances are slim and what he is looking at right now is 25-years to life.”
A fight began as Baker, Carroll and others involved were exchanging words.
The fighting continued as Carroll proceeded to cross the street. It was at that time that the gun shots were heard.
“For now, there are no clear motives as to why Baker did such a thing,” Dominick said. “That is something that we are taking into careful investigation and examination. Baker’s trial will begin in the next year or so, so at this moment in time, our information as to why this all happened is very limited.”
For both the UR community and the greater Rochester community, the news of this event was startling and disturbing.
For some students, hearing about this occurence sparked a lot of nervous and unsafe feelings, whereas others see it as something to put in the past.
“In my opinion, this whole situation would be a lot scarier if it had happened on our campus,” sophomore Brett DeMaria said. “I don’t think there is any question that we do not want a murderer working at school and serving us food, but everyone has a life outside of this place and I guess that was his.”
Freshman Luke Rosnick viewed this event as something a bit more serious. “Being a small new freshman, it’s a scary thing,” he said. “It also gives parents another reason to worry about us when they hear about such events as these.”
Continuing, he said, “I definitely don’t think that something like this makes me feel unsafe on campus, but I do think that things like this should, without a doubt, be brought to the attention of this campus and taken pretty seriously.”
Baker has been working at the university since early 2004 and has no previous criminal record.
His fellow workers are surprised. “I was flabbergasted – I was sitting at home watching the news and I heard ‘Brandon Baker,'” Pit cashier Clarence Carter said. “I can’t fathom him doing that. It threw me off because I knew him. The Brandon that I know is not capable of that, but you know you can live next door to someone for 30 years and they can have 30 bodies in their basement. You never know. It shook up the students too – he was working right here.”
Lewis can be reached at slewis@campustimes.org.
