Trial starts for teenager accused of shooting Sanford cop in 2010

Defendant Henry Lee 'Peanut' Baker was 16 at the time of the shooting.

  • Henry Lee Baker, then 16, in court three years ago. He is accused of wounding a police officer. (Red Huber/ Orlando Sentinel)
Henry Lee Baker, then 16, in court three years ago. He is accused… (Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel )
February 4, 2013|Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

Testimony is to begin Tuesday in Seminole County for a teenager charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a Sanford police officer.

Henry Lee "Peanut" Baker, is accused of wounding Officer Brandon Worrall during a foot chase nearly three years ago.

Baker, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, is being prosecuted as an adult. If convicted, he faces a possible life prison sentence.

According to police, Baker had rounded a corner and stopped, and when Worrall appeared, Baker fired three times. The first two shots missed, but the third entered the officer's chest under his right arm, above his bullet-proof vest.

Worrall then fell to the ground, and Baker pulled the trigger a fourth time, the officer told reporters a few days later, but that shot missed, too.

Worrall has recovered and returned to work as a patrol officer. He was not trying to arrest Baker — now 19 — and had not drawn his weapon, according to then-Police Chief Brian Tooley.

One of the ways police linked Baker to the crime was through the gun, a rusty, spray-painted .38-caliber revolver that was left at the scene. Also, Worrall picked Baker from a photo lineup.

The officer had begun the foot chase that night, July 3, 2010, because an apartment complex security guard described Baker as a suspicious person and wanted him removed for trespassing. The guard had told Baker to leave earlier, but the teenager had returned, according to Tooley.

Worrall tried to approach Baker, but the teenager moved away then ran, according to his arrest report.

He had been arrested at least four times previously, according to state and Seminole County records, and been found guilty of three Ocoee burglaries.

The slug that wounded Worrall broke a rib, bruised a lung then tore through his left shoulder. It was recovered from inside his shirt, stopped as it exited his body by the vest, according to Baker's arrest warrant and Tooley. or 407-650-6394

Orlando Sentinel Articles