Hit Man Kills Newspaper Editor

08-02) 14:05 PDT OAKLAND -- Chauncey Bailey, editor of the Oakland Post and a former reporter for the Oakland Tribune, was shot to death today on a downtown Oakland street in what police described as a targeted killing.

Bailey, 57, was shot just before 7:30 a.m. on 14th Street near Alice Street, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses said a lone gunman dressed in dark clothing approached Bailey, shot him twice and ran away. Oakland Fire Capt. Melinda Drayton said Bailey was shot first in the back and then once in the head.

Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said investigators believe the shooting was an assassination-style hit.

Bailey, who lived in Oakland and has a teenage son, was known for his assertive style of questioning city officials, Holmgren said.

He was well known in the African American community and was often invited to speak as an expert on black issues. In more than a decade at the Oakland Tribune, he covered African American issues ranging from AIDS in the black community to prison-sentencing policy to minority college enrollment. Before coming to the Tribune, he worked for 10 years at the Detroit News.

Bailey was fired from the Tribune in 2005 for ethics violations, including instances when he mixed personal affairs with business, according to several former colleagues. He went on to work for the Post as a freelance foreign correspondent, covering stories in Vietnam and Haiti, and was named editor of the publication in June.

"This is madness," Holmgren said of the slaying. "He held our feet to the fire; he kept me on my toes."

The Post, a weekly with a circulation of 49,500, is geared toward the African American community and is distributed in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and San Francisco.

Gwendolyn Carter, the paper's advertising manager, said news of Bailey's killing reached the office a little before 9 a.m. She said the staff of about 10 people was in shock.

"He was a good man," Carter said. "He always took care of me. He would say I was his little sister and he was my big brother."

Members of the Post staff, including publisher Paul Cobb, as well as local NAACP representatives gathered at the scene, expressing disbelief at Bailey's death and consoling one another.

"I'm shocked, as all of us are in the city. This is a daylight shooting; it's frightening," said Chris Jackson, executive director of the NAACP's Oakland chapter.

John Bowens, the paper's director of advertising, said he and others had no idea what the motive could be.

"He talked to me about what he could do to make Oakland better for people, about how the city could improve," Bowens said. "He spoke his mind."

Members of the Police Department's command staff, including Chief Wayne Tucker, were on scene this morning. Tucker, who arrived around 9 a.m. and did not stay long, said he was there because of the unusual nature of the killing, noting that it occurred downtown and in broad daylight.

Mayor Ron Dellums issued a statement saying, "Chauncey will be missed. He was at every media event and he always asked the first question. His questions were thoughtful and you knew that he sought to truly inform the public."

City Councilman Larry Reid called Bailey's killing "a loss to the entire African American community."

"Chauncey is someone who was very well respected, even though he and I sometimes disagreed," Reid said. "It's just really sad. Somehow we as a city, we a human beings have to get a handle on all these guns on the streets and these crazy people who have no sense of the value of a human life."

In a statement, Tribune Managing Editor Martin Reynolds called Bailey "a friend, a valued colleague and a loving father."

"His death has left all of us at the Oakland Tribune shocked and deeply saddened," Reynolds said. "Chauncey's coverage of Oakland's African American community was a tremendous asset to the Tribune. ... We will miss Chauncey and send our sincerest condolences to his friends and family. We now look to the authorities to bring his killer to justice."

Chronicle staff writers Henry K. Lee and Jim Herron Zamora contributed to this report.