Spunky Victim Has Long Recovery Ahead

By: Margie Miller of Grand Terrace, Publisher/Journalist *Click here for the update on this article REDLANDS >> Kristin Bauer, 28, was shot on March 24 after being taken hostage by her boyfriend, Andrew Mike of Lakewood, CA. Kristin is a resident of Corona and a manager at the Office Depot in Redlands. According to her father, Greg Bauer, the two had been dating for about five months but recently began to have some issues, but his daughter never said anything bad about Andrew. Greg shares that no one saw this coming and that Andrew would often be at the family's home with his 3-year-old daughter and they all got along great. "I like the guy, I even said on the news, 'Man, I don't want anything bad to happen to you, just let my daughter go.'" Greg said, reflecting back on the incident. Nicholas Bauer, Kristin's brother, said, "He was normal, he was an alright dude. He was a good dad to his daughter." "This came out of nowhere, there's none of us that had an inkling like she was afraid of him or anything," Greg continued. As reported by Greg, Andrew came to pick Kristin up for lunch the day of the incident after the two had a conversation in the morning where Kristin attempted to break the relationship off. During lunch Kristin reiterated that she thought they needed to take a break. Andrew then pulled a gun out and asked Kristin, “What do you think of this?” before firing a shot in her direction which hit his car. Greg reported that at as close of a range as they were, it seems like Andrew was only trying to scare Kristin at that point because he could have easily shot her then. Kristin then returned to Office Depot, unknowingly being followed by Andrew who went inside of the store, held a gun up to the managers and other customers, and abducted Kristin. Andrew took Kristin out of the store and held her at gunpoint before being confronted by police behind Orange Street Plaza. According to Kristin's brother, Nicholas, the two were sitting on the side of the building for about 40 minutes as police arrived and attempted to resolve the matter. Greg said that his daughter had called him on her cell phone during the incident and he could hear her begging Andrew to let her go and surrender to the police. Greg heard Andrew say, "I’m not afraid to die." SWAT team members also tried to get Andrew to release Kristin in an intense standoff that lasted nearly three hours. After Andrew made it clear that his intentions were to shoot Kristin, officials opened fire and Andrew died at the scene. Kristin was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center and was listed in critical condition on Thursday night. A Redlands Police officer and a bystander, who was reportedly shot in the finger, were also injured during the incident and were treated at Loma Linda. According to Greg, Kristin was shot at least twice and the bullets went from her shoulder, through her lungs and liver. As a result of the injuries a portion of her lung and liver had to be removed during emergency surgery. Kristin’s condition was upgraded to stable in the days following. According to Greg, Kristin is up and talking but will still need to undergo a lot of major surgeries to make a recovery. After recently finding out that she has cervical cancer, Kristin was scheduled for surgery, and shared that doctors have told her that as a result of the gunshot wounds, the cancer surgery would have to be postponed. "Me and my boyfriend broke up and he decided to try and shoot me," said Kristin sitting up fighting both physical and emotional pain in a LLUMC hospital bed. Kristin graduated high school in the top 3% in the nation, Kristin went on to graduate from nursing school as a CNA. She has fond memories of volunteering at her church in the children's ministry and choir. "I never expected anything like this to happen. He has a little girl whose three and now his mom is going to be in charge of taking care of her," Kristin said fighting emotion. "She's a good person. She's caring and is always putting everyone else before herself. She is a tough girl," said her brother Nicholas. Greg said that he is overwhelmed by all of the support his daughter has received from the community and that with Kristin's grandmother passing away at the beginning of the month and the family dog being killed by a neighbor's dog just a short time prior to Kristin being shot, the family has been going through some difficult times. Greg said that Office Depot has also been incredibly supportive and that some employees at the Vons store in the Orange Street Plaza brought food and other items over to Office Depot to make sure everyone was okay. Also, Katrina Copetillo, a local community member organized a blood drive for Kristin. Robert Schaefer, an accomplished author who lives in Forest Falls, said Kristin's story really affected him because of the emotions it triggered in him, as he has a beautiful daughter similar in age to Kristin. Schaefer said he prayed all night and all day for Kristin's full recovery but he felt compelled to do more. Schaefer has a very strong legal background and knew that insurance would not cover the injuries as a result of the shooting, and he wanted to take action to help. He decided to use his knowledge to set up a foundation for Kristin. All of the money donated to the foundation will help pay for her medical bills and living expenses until she has fully recovered. Mr. Schaefer visited the Office Depot in an effort to reach the family. The staff was very protective of Kristin, but when they saw that Mr. Schaefer's only interest was helping Kristin, they wrote a text message to Kristin's dad reading: "There is a very, very kind older man here. He set up a foundation for people to be able to donate to Kristin for expenses. I have his contact info. I have seen the documentation and it is very impressive.. he has a Federal tax ID number and anyone can contribute to it, but he needs your approval." When asked what she thought of Mr. Schaefer's efforts to help her, Kristin said, "There's no words to say. It's going to help.. it's going to help tremendously." When asked how he feels about Mr. Schaefer's swift actions to come to the aid of his daughter, Greg said "This is just unbelievable. The kindness towards my daughter.. I'm just in awe. I just thank the Lord that there's people like that in the world." "Everyone in Loma Linda, especially Robert Schaefer, has been good to my family and my daughter. I need to move here," said Greg with a humble smile. Those interested in contributing to the foundation set up by Mr. Schaefer to help Kristin through her recovery are asked to make checks payable to "The Kristin Bauer Foundation" and mail them to City News Group, Inc., 22797 Barton Road, Grand Terrace, CA 92313, or go to www.gofundme.com/HelpKristinBauer.