The Gainesville Police Department honored Officer Scott Baird with a candle vigil on Thursday night, 25 years after the 23-year-old officer died in the early morning hours behind Gainesville High School.  

An engraved memorial marks the spot and lists Baird’s end-of-watch date along with a line from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” 

GPD holds the vigil each year, and the department’s honor ride biked 25 miles to the memorial for the anniversary. 

“It’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed, and yet his presence still felt so deeply,” Scott’s mother, Kelly Gaudet, said.  

Baird had served with GPD for not quite 22 months when he got a call of obstruction on NW 16th Terrace that runs past the Gainesville High School baseball and softball fields. It was just before 4 a.m., and a batting cage was blocking the road.  

Baird positioned his patrol car to warn drivers and waited for help to move the batting cage. A car headed south towards the obstruction, and Baird walked toward it with a flashlight, but the car kept coming.  

A 17-year-old driver slammed the brakes at the last second and skidded into the batting cage, which struck and killed Baird. 

“It’s a huge loss to me because Scott was my best friend,” Lt. Jeff Blundell said. “Our personalities were very similar. We were always spending time with one another, and I was impressed at how much of a solid cop he was as such a younger officer.” 

Commissioner Ed Book, who worked at GPD with Baird, said he remembers going to the funeral home that day and getting to spend a final time with the fallen officer.  

He told the law enforcement attendees that Baird’s life is a reminder that their work matters and each call matters. He said the bravery and courage displayed by officers every day is what garners the community’s support.  

Book added that GPD does have the community’s support, even if it may not always seem so from national news or social media posts.  

Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya said attending the ceremony each year gets more impactful as he learns about Baird and feels more connected with his friends and family.  

He encouraged the law enforcement attendees to engage for every call. Pointing back to the shooting incident that wounded two GPD officers in January, Moya said life is fragile and officers need to train for real and find a way to stay engaged from call to call and ready for what might come. 

“We will keep coming back to this [memorial] because we owe him that and his family,” Moya said. “But words can only go so far. The action that he would want to see is the survival of others.”