News

Drug suspect drove toward officer before being shot, SBI agent says

Rufus Cedric Baker

By Lightning Reports, Published: December 20, 2017

A suspected drug dealer shifted into drive and attempted to hit a city police detective with his car before the officer opened fire in the Walmart parking lot last month, according to a search warrant.

Detective Sgt. Brandon McGaha was working on “an undercover drug takedown” the night of Thursday, Nov. 30, when he fatally shot suspected meth seller Rufus Cedric “Bookie” Baker, 32, of Asheville.
According to a probable cause affidavit SBI agent Christopher Campbell submitted in order to secure the search warrant, McGaha had learned from an informant, Lonnie Henderson, that Baker “was bringing a large amount of methamphetamine into town.”
Henderson, driving a Toyota Camry, followed Baker’s Ford Focus into the Walmart parking lot.
“When Officer McGaha approached the vehicle, Baker put his car in reverse and hit the informant’s vehicle,” Campbell said in the search, which was filed in the Henderson County Courthouse. “Officer McGaha saw a firearm in Baker’s waistband and noticed Baker attempting to grab the gun. Baker put the car in drive and attempted to hit Officer McGaha with his vehicle. Officer McGaha fired his handgun at Baker, struck him, and the vehicle stopped.”
Meanwhile, another city officer, Colby Allman, told SBI agent Tom Ammons that he was standing outside near the Radio Shack when he heard four or five shots.
“As Officer Allman approached the Ford Focus he saw Lonnie Henderson step out from behind a vehicle and yell to Officer Allman, ‘He tried to run over Sarge! He tried to run over Sarge.’”
It was not clear if Allman was on duty and part of the planned drug arrest or just happened to be there.
Capt. Bruce Simonds said he could not answer questions about the case, which remains under investigation by the SBI and the police department.
While officers administered first aid to Baker, the informant repeated the story that Baker “was trying to run over Officer McGaha and was reaching for a gun,” Campbell said. An ambulance transported Baker to Pardee Hospital, where he died.
Campbell swore out the search warrant about six hours after the shooting.
The search of Baker’s Ford turned up 13 bags of a “crystal like substance” and a cell phone.
Hendersonville Police Chief Herbert Blake said in a news conference the morning after the shooting that police had recovered a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson at the scene. The bagged substance “what we believe to be crystal meth and methamphetamine," Blake said. "This was a seller.”
Campbell also got a search warrant to search Henderson’s Toyota. He found two bags of a crystal like substance, a dollar bill with white powder on it, a white LG mobile device, a Samsung tablet, an Apple iPhone and a “glass pipe with burn marks,” the returned search warrant said. The search warrants were returned to the Henderson County Clerk of Superior Court on Monday.
Henderson is scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 23 in Henderson County on felony drug charges, according to records.
Baker had served prison time for convictions on multiple felonies over the past 14 years. He was sentenced to seven years and five months in prison in July 2012 on charges that included larceny, credit card fraud, obtaining property by false pretense and being a habitual felon, according to state records.