Articles
Alleged gang-banger charged with killing
off-duty county officer
July 10, 2004
BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter
Alleged gang member Bernard Mims -- whose long rap sheet includes a 2003 conviction
for biting a Chicago Police officer -- is now charged with killing an off-duty
Cook County correctional officer.
Mims, 25, is accused of killing Dwayne "Bear" Baker at 12:30 a.m.
on Oct. 12, 2000, with an AK-47-style assault weapon. Mims, a Black Disciples
gang member, was targeting rival Gangster Disciples but mistakenly shot Baker
after jumping out of a yellow sport- utility vehicle near the Michigan Boulevard
Garden Apartments at 54 E. 47th, police said.
A two-year investigation by the Chicago Police cold case squad and Cook County
state's attorney's special prosecutions unit led to witnesses who identified
Mims as the killer, police Sgt. Daniel Brannigan said.
"All they had to go on was a nickname for [Mims], and based on that,
they tracked him down," a source close to the investigation said. "One
of the eyewitnesses knew the guy's nickname."
Initially, people were reluctant to talk to investigators, the source said.
Mims "had an assault rifle . . . and that kind of discourages people
from coming forward -- and when they know it's gang-related," the source
said.
Baker, 33, a five-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was working private
security for the apartments in the historic Rosenwald building. Mims allegedly
emptied a magazine containing at least 20 rounds, then sprayed a second magazine
of bullets, police said.
A female bystander was shot in the leg with a pistol. Police said they don't
have that shooter in custody.
Detective Ted Przepiora got an arrest warrant for Mims on Tuesday. Mims was
arrested Wednesday, and the murder charge was approved Thursday. He is being
held without bail.
On Dec. 23, 2001, almost a year and a half after Baker was killed, Mims was
arrested for aggravated battery to a police officer. He bit Chicago Police
Officer Robert Smith in the arm and kneed him in the groin after he was allegedly
caught with heroin at the Robert Taylor Homes public housing complex near
45th and Federal.
Mims was convicted of the felony aggravated battery charge in February 2003.
He was sentenced to two years' probation and ordered to serve in the Cook
County Sheriff's Work Alternative Program.