Friends hold vigil for pregnant woman shot inside her Fresno apartment

At a vigil Sunday, a small group of friends surrounded Cassie Baker, whose pregnant sister was killed inside her central Fresno apartment early that morning.

Fresno police responded to Griffith Garden apartments, near Griffith Way and Blackstone Avenue, around 6 a.m. A roommate notified Baker, in her 20s, of what happened.

“Just come home,” Baker said she was told, “Amber’s been shot.”

The victim, 20-year-old Amber Baker, invited friends Saturday night to the apartment, which she shared with her 4-month-old son, Cassie Baker and three other women. Baker added she hardly knew any of the people who were invited.

After an argument, Baker and her son left. “Our last words were so hateful,” she said.

Apart from the argument, something felt off, she said. Baker couldn’t pinpoint why she felt that way, but explained her sister had been acting differently.

“Maybe it was the friends she started hanging out with,” Baker said, “I didn’t think about (the strange feeling) until this morning, when I got the phone call.”

After dropping off her son at a friend’s house, Baker sat in her car and messaged her sister through Facebook to apologize.

“I was still sitting right there, checking my phone until she replied,” she said, “just so I could know that I could come home. That she accepted my apology.”

Baker said her sister opened the message but didn’t reply.

“I never thought we were going to bump heads and I would never see her again,” she said.

Baker waited in her car until she received the phone call. A roommate, who Baker says is like a sister, told her she walked into the victim’s room where she was found alone and shot. The grieving sister said that there was at least seven people in the home at the time. Despite this, she hasn’t received any information about the 7-week-pregnant woman.

Fresno police Lt. Stephen Viveros said they cleared the crime scene around 4 p.m.

“I walk inside the apartment and it’s just not the same,” Baker said. “Without my sister, it’s not home.”

While the vigil went on outside, Baker’s father and relatives were upstairs cleaning the scene.

“Who would want to do this to her?” Baker questioned, as she stood near photos and candles lit in the victim’s honor.

Baker shared the close bond she had with her sister, who was 13 months younger.

“Me and her, we were unstoppable together,” she said.

She also mentioned what a great mother she was and added that the boy was now with his father.

“He (the son) was her world,” Baker said.

Although Baker is grateful for the vigil, she hopes to find out more information about her sister’s death, specifically, if the sister suffered.

Officials have not ruled out gang involvement and the case remains under investigation, Viveros said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Fresno police at 559-621-7000.

This story was originally published February 26, 2017 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Friends hold vigil for pregnant woman shot inside her Fresno apartment."