| Murder of Chauncey Bailey | |
|---|---|
| Location | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Date | August 2, 2007 |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Victim | Chauncey Bailey |
| Perpetrator | Devaughndre Brousard |
Chauncey Bailey was an American journalist and the editor-in-chief of The Oakland Post. He was shot dead on a downtown Oakland street on August 2, 2007, the victim of a crime syndicate he was investigating for a story.[1] Bailey's death outraged fellow journalists, who joined together to create the Chauncey Bailey Project dedicated to continuing his work and uncovering the facts of his murder.
In June 2011, Yusuf Bey IV, the owner of Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB), was convicted of ordering Bailey's murder, along with other charges, and sentenced to three life terms in prison. An associate of Bey's, Antoine Mackey, who also worked for YBMB and previously participated in various criminal activities with other Bakery members, was also convicted for participating in Bailey's murder. A third man, bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, had earlier confessed to being the triggerman. Bailey was the first American journalist killed for domestic reporting since 1976.[2]
Chauncey Bailey had been working on a story about the finances of Your Black Muslim Bakery (YBMB), which was on the verge of bankruptcy.[3][4] Oakland Post publisher Paul Cobb later revealed that, prior to Bailey's killing, Cobb had withheld from publication a story that he had written earlier, saying only that it was about "things like" what happened to Bailey. Cobb later stated that the police had asked him not to reveal anything about the matter. A former YBMB employee, Ali Saleem Bey – who is not a relative of the bakery's owner, but who adopted the Bey name – revealed that he was Bailey's source for the withheld story, which the Post had decided was not ready for publication. Bailey had asked Ali Bey to give him information for the story.[5]
According to Ali Bey, YBMB had been seized from its rightful heirs in a coup, through fraud and forgery, by a younger branch of the Bey family, including Antar Bey and Yusuf Bey IV, the bakery's CEO. In June 2005, John Bey, the former head of the Bey security service who had tried to expose the fraud behind the YBMB coup, fled Oakland with his family after an attempt on his life in a shooting outside his home. In 2005, Antar mortgaged the YBMB property to cover back taxes and other debt, and then defaulted, which led to threat of foreclosure.[5] An attorney for the Post confirmed that Bailey had been working on the story about the "financial status of the organization" and including the possibly criminal "activities of a number of people who were working in the organization".[5]
On October 24, 2006, YBMB filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. With $900,000 in debts, owed mostly to the mortgage holder, the bakery building was about to be foreclosed upon. The remaining debt, $200,000, was owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The day after Bailey's death, on August 3, 2007, Judge Edward Jellen ordered the case to be converted to Chapter 7 liquidation effective August 9.[6]
By the summer of 2007, Bailey was living in an apartment near the south end of Lake Merritt, not far from Downtown Oakland.[7] His regular morning routine involved walking to work along 14th Street, which included a stop to eat breakfast at a McDonald's restaurant at corner of Jackson Street.[7]
On the morning of August 2, Bailey was being followed by a white Ford Aerostar van carrying Devaughndre Broussard, a 19-year-old YBMB employee who was on probation for a San Francisco robbery conviction, and driven by Antoine Mackey, a 21-year-old YBMB employee who was on probation for selling cocaine.[8] Broussard had worked at the bakery as a handyman and cook between August 2006 and March 2007, before leaving to find other work. He was rehired at the bakery in July 2007.[4] Mackey had only been working at the bakery since May of 2007.[8]
Broussard spotted Bailey leaving the McDonald's restaurant. After the van was parked on Alice Street, Broussard – wearing a ski mask and dark clothing – approached Bailey at the 200 block of 14th Street, wielding a Mossberg shotgun. One witness said Bailey said: "Please don't kill me." This witness claimed he recognized Bailey, and that he was in trouble, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the shotgun.[9] Other witnesses said Broussard fired at least three rounds from the shotgun.[1][7][10] Broussard's first shot hit Bailey in the chest. He then stood over Bailey and fired again at his face, before finally firing a coup de grâce to make sure he was dead.[9] Broussard then ran back to the waiting van and Mackey drove away. Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene.[7]
Bailey was survived by his father, three of his four siblings, and his teenage son living in southern California. A funeral Mass for Bailey was held at the East Oakland St. Benedict's Catholic Church on the morning of August 8, 2007, with an overflow 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, and well-known local attorney John Burris. Bailey was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in nearby Hayward.[11][12]
Devaughndre Broussard grew up in San Francisco's Western Addition district. In January 2006, at age 18, he pleaded guilty to an assault charge and served a first-time offender sentence of one year in San Francisco County Jail. Upon release, he was further ordered to three years of supervised probation.[13] In addition to his probation status, Broussard was wanted on an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant for his arrest, charged with a 2006 assault with a firearm in San Francisco.[14]
On the night of August 1, 2007, Broussard first went looking for Bailey at his apartment complex, having discovered his residence near the south end of Lake Merritt. Early on the next morning of August 2, Broussard looked for Bailey at his office at the Post, but Bailey had not yet arrived.[4] Broussard also went looking for Bailey twice again at his apartment complex that morning. At 7:17 a.m. an AC Transit bus driver reported seeing a man, who may have been Broussard, standing near Bailey's apartment complex at First Avenue and International Boulevard with a shotgun. The driver called his dispatcher, who reported the incident to the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. The driver continued on his route, and deputies responded to the location, but could not locate the man in their search.[9]
Yusuf Bey IV | |
|---|---|
| Born | Yusuf Bey IV 1986 (age 37–38) |
| Occupation | Baker |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Allegiance | Black Muslims |
| Criminal charge | Murder |
| Penalty | Life imprisonment |
Yusuf Bey IV was born in Oakland in 1986, the son of Yusuf Bey, the founder of YBMB, and Daulet Bey, one of multiple women who the elder Yusuf took as his wives.[15] His life was marred by arrests and accusations of serious crimes.[16] Yusuf's father was said to have fathered forty-two children by these women at the time of his death in 2003. He had one legal wife, Farieda Bey,[15] but no other formal marriages took place. Bey claimed he had "spiritually" adopted his followers, who all took his surname.[17] People who worked for YBMB were considered "members" of the business and the mosque from which the bakery had grown.[18]
From a young age, Yusuf had run-ins with the law, including at the age of 15 in 2001, when he was arrested in El Cerrito for failing to stop at a stop sign and possessing a loaded firearm magazine.[15]
After the death of the elder Yusuf, one of his followers, Waajid Aljawwaad (who sometimes used the additional last name of Bey), became the CEO of YBMB as his designated successor. However, on February 27, 2004, Aljawwaad failed to arrive for work at the bakery. His body, bound with electrical tape and wrapped in a tarpaulin, was found in Oakland Hills in July of that year. No one was ever charged with the murder.[19]
Antar Bey, Daulet and Yusuf Bey's son and older brother of Yusuf Bey IV, seized control of YBMB. Antar's half siblings and their mothers protested and fought with him over control of the business, but to no avail; he was able to retain control and force them out. He soon took out $700,000 in loans that went into default.[20] However, in October 2005, Antar was killed in a carjacking in Oakland. Authorities suspected Yusuf IV of ordering Antar's execution but could not provide proof. Oakland police charged a man unrelated to the bakery with the murder.[19] After Antar's death, Yusuf IV took full control of YBMB.
Yusuf IV seemed primarily interested in YBMB's profits and the power over the members of the business his father had engendered, not the day-to-day operation of the business itself. He alternately took money from YBMB and conducted various fraudulent operations to support himself and the business before it failed.[19] Yusuf IV continued his father's practice of delivering fiery Black Muslim sermons to bakery followers, including one videotaped sermon from July 2007, where he asserted, "We fight the government, we fight the police, we fight our own families, we fight our own people, and we fight Caucasian people daily—just to do right."[21]
Some of the crimes Bey IV committed during this period included theft by deception and forgery involving the purchase of several cars; fraudulent sub-prime home loan applications; possession of a firearm after attempting to open a checking account using forged identification; and a bizarre kidnapping and assault on a woman Yusuf IV believed was connected with drug dealers who owed him money, or whom he could rob.[16] Despite several arrests, he remained free and flouted subpoenas and court dates. His lawyer said at the time, "The view was, 'We're Black Muslims, we can do anything we want.' They got sucked in. I thought it was 'acting out' behavior. But it caused just a whirlwind of trouble."[19]
Below are some of the charges and arrests for Yusuf Bey IV.
In May 2007, Antoine Mackey began working at YBMB after moving to Oakland from San Francisco, where he had obtained a lengthy criminal record for crimes that included weapons violations, and been shot on multiple occasions in what police later indicated were likely gang-related incidents.[26] He quickly became involved in criminal activities with Yusuf Bey VI and Devaughndre Broussard, including allegedly being present for the murder of Odel Roberson, which was ordered by Bey, and allegedly being the triggerman in the murder of Michael Wills.[8] In 2007, he was convicted of selling cocaine, and in 2008, he was convicted of burglary.
Mackey's role in Bailey's murder was not initially known, but later evidence emerged that he drove Broussard to and from the scene, was present for the murder itself, and was a participant in the prior planning and surveillance of Bailey leading up to the killing.[8]
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.
Beginning early at 5 a.m. on the following morning of August 3, 2007, more than 200 Oakland police officers and SWAT team members armed with search warrants closed off a number of blocks of San Pablo Avenue, a major thoroughfare in North Oakland. The area of focus included homes and the business properties of Your Black Muslim Bakery, which operated two business locations on either side of the street between Stanford Avenue and 59th Street. The group was a Black Muslim splinter organization founded by Yusuf Bey, and at the time was led by his son Yusuf Bey IV. The pre-dawn raids followed a two-month investigation into a variety of violent crimes, including kidnapping and murder. Police used stun grenades and broke down doors to gain entry. In a news conference later that day, Oakland Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said that several weapons and other evidence of value linked the killing of Chauncey Bailey to members of the group.[3] Police also recovered spent ammunition from the rooftops, and detained 19 people for questioning.[4]
In addition to the bakeries, the police also raided nearby homes. In the 1000 block of 59th Street, police recovered[5] the shotgun used in the killing of Bailey in a closet of the home where Broussard was also detained. The rear yard of the home connected directly to the bakery property.[14] Police also raided a home in the 900 block of Aileen Street a few blocks east of the bakery.[4] Of the 19 detainees on that morning, five were arrested along with Broussard, and Yusuf Bey IV on probable cause arrest warrants, along with other outstanding arrest warrants stemming from the prior investigations.[4]
Broussard was booked on suspicion of murder on August 4, 2007, for the killing of Bailey, having told police detectives that he considered himself "a good soldier". Though other charges were made against those arrested, none of them were initially charged with Bailey's murder.[14] On August 7, Broussard was arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court on charges of murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.[13]
Broussard initially confessed to killing Bailey, then recanted his confession. In a 2008 60 Minutes interview, Broussard claimed he was coerced by Yusuf Bey IV to plead guilty for the benefit of the bakery and others arrested.[27] In an interview for CBS News, Broussard said that the Oakland Police put him and Bey IV together in a room, and that Bey IV convinced him to plead guilty for the purpose of releasing other murder suspects.[28] He later pled guilty to manslaughter charges in exchange for a 25-year sentence and full testimony at the trial of Bey IV and others.[29]
In June 2008, a videotape of Bey IV in custody whispering to his half-brother Joshua Bey and another bakery associate, Tamon Halfin, and disclosing details of Bailey's murder was obtained and posted by the Chauncey Bailey Project.[30] Journalists from the Chauncey Bailey Project created a transcription of the conversation which seemed to indicate Bey was involved in Bailey's murder.
A grand jury indicted Bey IV for ordering the execution of Chauncey Bailey in April 2009, almost two years after the murder. He was also charged with ordering the deaths of Roberson and Wills, along with an additional charge of firing a weapon at an occupied vehicle.[31][32] In the same indictment, Antoine Mackey was also charged with the murders of Bailey, Roberson, and Wills.[31]
Broussard testified for the prosecution at the trial of Bey IV and Antoine Mackey in 2011. He stated in court that Bey ordered him to find, track and kill Bailey before the journalist could print his latest article on the bakery.[29]
On June 9, 2011, Bey IV and Mackey were both convicted by a trial jury of multiple counts of murder[33] and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.[34] Yusuf Bey IV was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.[35]
In 2013, Bey's attorney, Lorna Brown, was convicted of smuggling documents out of jail for him. One of the documents, a hit list ordering an associate to kill a witness, was intercepted by police before the associate could carry out the murder.[36]
In 2015, a state appeals court upheld the convictions of Yusuf Bey IV and Antoine Mackey.[37]
Bey IV also threatened former bakery followers to intimidate them from testifying against him. Based on recorded calls between Bey IV and follower Kahlil Raheem, Bey first cajoled and then warned Raheem not to testify against him.[38] As the trial progressed, allegations of intimidation by Bey IV and other former bakery members persisted. The Contra Costa Times editorialized on April 30, 2011 that the intimidation must stop and that the judge, Thomas Reardon, along with bailiffs and the sheriff should get control of the trial to allow justice to be done.[39] Some witnesses called to testify changed their story from the original information they gave the police or said they did not remember what happened. A man who worked at the convenience store that Bey IV allegedly attacked with his followers said he did not remember over 50 times at trial.[40] Even Broussard testified later that he did not remember Bey IV giving him specific orders to kill Odel Roberson or Chauncey Bailey.[41]
