In the quiet evening of November 6, 2019, in Del City, Oklahoma, 18-year-old Ryan Yearby’s life was tragically cut short by a sudden act of violence. He was sitting in the passenger seat of a car on Vicki Drive when he was struck in the head by a single gunshot. The driver of the vehicle rushed him to a nearby hospital, but his injuries proved fatal.
Ryan was a young man on the cusp of a new chapter, having been preparing to start a new job the very next day.
The events leading up to the fatal shooting had been tense. In the days prior, the residence where a friend of Ryan’s lived had been targeted in a separate shooting incident, though no one was harmed. On the night of the incident, as Ryan and a friend arrived at the house, a verbal exchange occurred. Shortly after, multiple shots were fired towards their vehicle. Investigators believed the shooter fired about five times in a seemingly random act, likely not knowing the identity of the occupants of the car.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Del City police identified 34-year-old Bruce Baker, who also went by the name Bruce Pharaoh, as a person of interest in the case. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for him. Baker, who was described as a long-time friend of Ryan's family, fled the area. For nearly two years, his whereabouts remained unknown. The U.S. Marshals joined the search, offering a $5,000 reward for information that could lead to his capture. During this time, it was suspected that Baker was receiving assistance to evade law enforcement, with tips placing him in both the Oklahoma City area and the Dallas metroplex.
Ultimately, Bruce Baker was apprehended. Following his arrest, the long road to justice for the death of Ryan Yearby could finally begin, leaving a family to grapple with the loss of a young man they remembered as one of a kind.
