Assassination
As he walked from home to work, Bailey was shot dead around 7:30 a.m. on 14th Street near Alice Street in Oakland's Lakeside Apartments District in what police described as an assassination. Witnesses said the single gunman wearing dark clothing and a ski mask approached Bailey and fired at least three rounds from a shotgun, hitting Bailey at least once in the chest, then fled on foot to a waiting van and drove off.
The gunman first fired a shotgun blast at Bailey's chest, then stood over him and fired again execution style at Bailey's face while Bailey was down, and then fired a coup de grâce to make sure he was dead. The assassin then escaped in the van. Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene. Police Chief Wayne Tucker described the killing as "unusual" because it occurred downtown and in broad daylight. The Mossberg shotgun used in the murder was later identified as one stolen during a liquor store vandalism 2 years prior suspected to have been committed by members of Your Black Muslim Bakery.
On the day of the killing Oakland Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland offered up to $25,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the killer.
Bailey was survived by his father, three of his four siblings, and his teenage son living in southern California. A funeral Mass was held at the East Oakland St. Benedict's Catholic Church on the morning of August 8, 2007, with an overflowing crowd of 700 in attendance, including a line of people outside for more than an hour into the service. Attendees included Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, actress Luenell, assistant dean of the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism Paul Grabowicz who once worked with Bailey at the Tribune, and well-known local attorney John Burris. Bailey was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in nearby Hayward.
Read more about this topic: Chauncey Bailey