Murder of Chauncey Bailey

At 7:25 a.m. Broussard spotted Bailey leaving the McDonald's restaurant. At around 7:30 a.m., 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.[8] Other witnesses said Broussard fired at least three rounds from the shotgun.[1][7][9] Broussard's first shot hit Bailey in the chest. He then stood over Bailey and fired again execution style at his face, before finally firing a coup de grâce to make sure he was dead.[8] Broussard then ran back to the waiting van and fled. 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.[10][11]

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.[12] 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.[13]

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.[8]

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.[14] His life was marred by arrests and accusations of serious crimes.[15] 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,[14] but no other formal marriages took place. Bey claimed he had "spiritually" adopted his followers, who all took his surname.[16] People who worked for YBMB were considered "members" of the business and the mosque from which the bakery had grown.[17]

The younger Yusuf had several run-ins with the law, including a 2001 arrest in El Cerrito for failing to stop at a stop sign and possessing a loaded firearm magazine; he was 15 years old at the time.[14] Yusuf's father had been accused of lewd conduct in 2002 by a girl who he had raised as a foster child.[18] While DNA evidence was conclusive enough for prosecutors to schedule a court date for the elder Yusuf, he died of cancer before the trial could begin.[19] The incident scandalized the surrounding community, which had admired the elder Yusuf because of his renowned business, his association with prominent politicians, his support for black empowerment, and his supposed adherence to his Black Muslim faith.[19]

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.[15] 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 November 2005, Yusuf IV was charged with grand theft for fraud connected with the purchase of a 2002 Mercedes from a Vallejo car dealership. He used a stolen identity to buy the car and pleaded no contest when the crime was discovered. A Solano County judge allowed him to remain free.[15]
• That same month, a group of men in suits, presumably led by Yusuf IV, stormed two Muslim-owned stores that sold liquor. The men destroyed wine in cases and groceries. He later claimed, "If you say you're a Muslim, you should have the action of a Muslim," and that alcohol was "killing our people".[19]
• In 2006, Yusuf IV was charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he tried to run over the bouncer of a San Francisco strip club from which he'd been ejected.[15]
• In June 2006, Yusuf IV purchased a home in Oakland using falsified information. The sub-prime loan involved a first and second mortgage, and investigators later theorized the motive was to obtain money from the home's equity. The loan went into default in October. Yusuf IV used his own Social Security number but a driver's license with a falsified name for the loan paperwork.[15] Later, investigators discovered that he and his associates had purchased a total of five homes, most of which were in default.[19]
• That same month, Yusuf IV and associates used false information to buy three cars from a San Bruno dealership, which later resulted in charges of grand theft. Yusuf IV used the same name to purchase the cars that he had used to purchase the house in Oakland.[15][19] One of the accomplices later said he could not remember using a false name or several other details of the fraudulent car purchase or the liquor store vandalism, in which he also allegedly participated.[22]
• In May 2007, Bey IV and four men kidnapped a woman and took her to the home of Bey's brother-in-law. The men beat the blindfolded woman and demanded money supposedly owed to Bey IV. While the crime was in progress, police saw a Ford Crown Victoria, a car often used by police, outside the house and grew suspicious.[19] Police went to the door and the men fled on foot, leaving their cars behind. The police confiscated the vehicles as evidence and Joshua Bey, Bey IV's half-brother, was arrested. Since the arrest, Bey IV has alternately admitted and denied various aspects of this crime.[15][23]

• Bey IV wanted Alfonza Phillips Sr., the father of the man who killed Antar Bey, executed. But because Bey IV's accomplice Devaughndre Broussard could not find Phillips, Bey IV told him to kill another relative of the carjacker, Odell Roberson.[24] In July 2007, Broussard, who was 19, found Roberson. Antoine Mackey, another member of the bakery, handed him a rifle, and Broussard shot the unarmed man. He said at trial that he had fired eight or ten rounds and carried out the murder "because Yusuf Bey IV told me to".[25]
• Later in 2007, Bey IV, Antoine Mackey and Devaughndre Broussard were driving around Oakland discussing the "Zebra" murders. Bey IV or Broussard saw Michael Wills, a white man who worked as a chef, returning to work on foot after purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Bey IV and his accomplices discussed who should kill Wills and Mackey volunteered. He got out of the car and shot Wills six times. The three left the scene and returned to the bakery compound.[20][23]