11/05/2025
Court documents paint the picture of a man in the midst of a dangerous psychotic breakdown that included him shooting and killing his allegedly pregnant girlfriend while also threatening his own children, and an Uber driver, with a gun.
“Today is our death day,” 38-year-old Steven Baker Jr. allegedly said after chasing down an Uber that his two children were attempting to escape in.
On October 28, 2025, police say officers were called to West 34th Street in Indianapolis, Indiana on report of a shooting. In the back of the residence, police found 26-year-old Ashley Renea Sanders shot dead in a bedroom.
Officers on scene were quickly told that Baker was the shooter and that he’d fled the scene. He was found, roughly 18 minutes later, at the intersection of 33rd and Harding streets. He allegedly refused officers’ commands, was uncompliant, and had to be taken to the ground and handcuffed after officers deployed a stun gun.
Police spoke with two of Baker’s children, who claimed their father was bipolar and off his medications. They accused Baker of being aggressive and abusive. The pair had allegedly tried to escape in an Uber, but Baker chased the car down, pointed a gun at them, and threatened to shoot them and himself.
Baker’s son eventually took the gun away from their father while his daughter called 911. But this is when Baker ran off.
According to Baker’s son, Ashley Sanders was dating his father and pregnant with Baker’s child at the time of her death. Baker was allegedly acting very strangely prior to the deadly shooting, repeatedly saying, “the world is about to end.” He allegedly approached his son and told him this while naked.
Baker’s son told police his father then grabbed a gun, so the son ran out onto the porch and held the door shut so his dad couldn’t pursue him. This is when Baker then allegedly went in search of the sleeping Sanders. He reportedly told the woman that she needed to leave and that she shouldn’t be around him.
Baker’s son then told police he overheard his father telling Sanders, “Oh, Ashley, you got on red. You the devil, you the devil… the government is out to get us.”
Sanders was wearing a red tank top when police found her in the back bedroom.
After calling Sanders the devil, Baker allegedly struck her in the face with the gun. Sanders tried to run, Baker’s son said, but his father opened fire. This is when Baker’s son tried to escape, running outside and spotting his sister pulling up in an Uber.
Allegedly, when police spoke with Baker, he was still seemingly in the midst of a psychotic episode. When asked where he lived, Baker called himself “a time traveler” who wasn’t even sure where he was at the moment. He told officers that he “lost his powers” after police shocked him with their stun gun.
When police read Baker his cell phone number and asked if it was his, he reportedly said the number did belong to Steven Baker Jr., but then added, “I don’t know who that guy is.”
When asked about Steven Baker, Baker reportedly told police, “the Steve Baker I know was livin’ with his kids, he was takin’ care of his kids.” He called Steven Baker “a cool guy” who was talking to “multiple females” and told police he had seven children with two “on the way.”
When asked who the mother was of these two “on the way kids,” Baker said he did not know. He said he did not have a girlfriend.
Allegedly, when police asked Baker why he left the house that night, he responded, “It was time to leave… it’s the end, they said this was the end.”
Baker was arrested on preliminary charges of murder. Official charges have not yet been filed.
