Hostage pleaded with Redlands gunman, ‘You gotta let me go!’

Surrounded by Redlands police, the gunman told Gregory Bauer’s daughter that he wasn’t afraid to die.

“She kept telling him, ‘You gotta let me go. You gotta let me go,’ and he said, ‘I’m not afraid to die,� Bauer told the San Bernardino Sun Thursday. But after talking with hostage negotiators, the gunman, identified as 29-year-old Andrew Mike of Downey, shot his ex-girlfriend once in the torso. The gunman was then shot and killed by police.

On Friday, officials said that the woman remained in critical condition.

Thursday’s shooting was the culmination of a dramatic series of events inside and outside an Office Depot on North Orange Street. Police say that Mike walked into the store holding a gun and began arguing with his girlfriend. He fired the weapon at her but missed, and wounded a bystander instead. He then took the woman hostage and led her out of the back of the store.

Over the next two hours, as SWAT team sharp shooters and television news crews watched, the pair sat on a curb while negotiators tried to talk Mike down. Bauer told KABC that his daughter had tried to break up with Mike earlier in the day. She called her father when he walked into the store that afternoon and began arguing with her, Bauer said.

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“I asked if she called police and she said ‘yes,’ and that her manager was on the phone with police. Then the phone went dead,� he told the station.

Mike has a daughter and was a regular at family dinners at Bauer’s home, he said.

“I don’t know what happened man, something triggered him,� Bauer told KABC.

Redlands police are investigating the shooting inside the store and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will investigate Mike’s death.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.

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