Man Killed by Police After Stabbings Was Mentally Ill

By DAVID KELLY

Oct. 3, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

VENTURA — A mentally ill man who stabbed three Community Memorial Hospital employees before being shot dead by police was described by friends Monday as “tightly wound” and “apt to go off” when he didn’t take his medication.

On Saturday, just hours before the attack and shooting, 48-year-old Jonathan Wesley Baker apparently had failed to take the prescription that calmed his mood swings, said Bernard Anderson, who lives at the El Camino Hotel in Ojai, where Baker had been staying.

Baker had a history of erratic behavior related to his mental problems. Officials at Ventura County Medical Center said Baker had been admitted to the locked psychiatric unit last April for a 72-hour period of intense treatment. Dr. Richard Ashby, medical director at the hospital, would not say what symptoms Baker exhibited.

However, Ashby acknowledged that “the most difficult people, the most problematic people,” are monitored in the unit.

The slightly built, disheveled man had been arrested on suspicion of drug possession last April, but Ventura police would not disclose details of the case.

A close friend and former roommate, who asked not to be identified, said Baker was a former mechanic who stayed in shelters from time to time. He was prone to severe depression, paranoia and suicidal thoughts, the friend said.

Ventura police said they were investigating the possibility that Baker tried to commit “suicide by cop,” meaning that he wanted to be shot by police.

According to friends, Baker took a bus to Ventura County Medical Center early Saturday evening, ostensibly to get a tetanus shot for a mouth abscess.

But he didn’t take the fanny pack that contained his medication, a friend said. “He [usually] guards it like the gold in Fort Knox, but this time he forgot it.”

Ashby confirmed that Baker had stopped in for treatment, but said he left “before our physician got to meet him.”

Instead, Baker walked to nearby Community Memorial and entered the emergency room about 10 p.m. When hospital security guards asked if he needed help, Baker punched a guard and stabbed him in the neck with a 2-inch pocketknife, then stabbed another guard in the stomach. A hospital employee was cut on his head. All were treated and released.

The two security men were identified as 55-year-old James Politano of Camarillo and 41-year-old Jeff Bifano of Oxnard. The hospital employee was Jaime Cadant, 59, of Oxnard.

Police who responded to a call for help initially tried to subdue Baker by shooting him with small sandbags and rubber bullets. They resorted to handguns when Baker approached and threatened them with the knife.

He was shot once in the lower torso and died two hours later at the same hospital.

Despite the attack, Michael Bakst, executive director of Community Memorial, said he was not planning to beef up security.

“Armed security sends the wrong message,” he said. “I’ve been here for 21 years and this is the first time something like this has happened. I think this is just a rare occurrence.”

Baker was only the latest mentally ill person to have been shot by police. In 1998, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies shot dead three mentally ill suspects in separate incidents.

In 1997, Ventura police shot and killed 29-year-old Anthony Ramos, a mentally ill man, during a scuffle on a street.

Advocates for the mentally ill blame the violent encounters on too few places in Ventura County where those who need it can find help or shelter.

The county hospital has only 43 beds for the mentally ill, said Carolyn Briggs, housing director at the county Department of Behavioral Health.

“At any one time just about every bed is filled up,” she said. “There is a tremendous shortage of all kinds of housing for the mentally ill.”