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Oakland Police officials are saying that a 19-year-old employee of Oakland’s Your Black Muslim Bakery has confessed to the shotgun murder of Oakland Post editor and veteran journalist Chauncey Bailey. But Oakland Deputy Chief Howard Jordan said at a Monday morning press conference that OPD investigators do not believe the assertion of San Francisco native Devaughdre Broussard that he acted alone in Bailey’s shooting, and are pursuing leads about possible accomplices. 

The 57-year-old Bailey was shot and killed by a lone gunman on the corner of 14th Street and Alice in downtown Oakland early Thursday morning as Bailey was walking to work. 

In the pre-dawn hours on Friday, Oakland police raided the Your Black Muslim Bakery headquarters on San Pablo Avenue near the Emeryville border on warrants concerning murder and kidnapping charges unrelated to the Bailey murder. Police officials said that seven of the nine persons named in the warrants were arrested, and that “firearm-related evidence linked to the Bailey murder” was recovered. 

Shortly after the police raid, inspectors with the Alameda County Health Department closed down the bakery because of reported health code violations. 

Your Black Muslim Bakery was founded by the late Dr. Yusuf Bey, who had once been a member of the Nation of Islam, now headed by Minister Louis Farrakhan. In their press conference announcing the raid and arrests, Oakland police officials pointedly noted that Your Black Muslim Bakery is not affiliated with the Nation of Islam, or with the local NOI mosque headed by Minister Keith Muhammad.  

At the time of his death in 2003, Bey was under state indictment for allegations that he had molested several underage women. 

On Friday, a spokesperson for Your Black Muslim Bakery told reporters that the recent arrests and allegations do not represent the purpose of the organization. “This is not a reflection of Dr. Yusuf Bey,” the Associated Press reported Shamir Yusuf Bey as saying. “We are all sons of Dr. Yusuf Bey. He has taught us morals, he has taught us how to be advocates in our community.” Many of Yusuf Bey’s followers adopted his last name, and it was not clear whether the spokesperson was an actual blood relative of the organization’s late founder. 

Bailey had reportedly recently completed a story about Your Black Muslim Bakery for the Oakland Post. In an interview with KTVU Channel 2 news, Oakland Post publisher Paul Cobb said that he had decided not to publish a Bailey story two weeks ago because of a possible controversy, but Cobb would not say whether the story involved Your Black Muslim Bakery. 

It is not certain what type of story Bailey may have written about the bakery, or if he was working on a follow-up investigation at the time of his death. 

Memorial services for Bailey have been scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 8, 11 a.m., at St. Benedict’s Church, 2245 82nd Ave., in Oakland. Bailey’s friends and associates are planning to set up a memorial fund in his name, but details about the fund have not yet been released. 

Contributed photo  

Oakland Police Department Deputy Chief Howard A. Jordan and Public Information Officer Roland Holmgren announce arrests in the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, citing “firearm-related evidence” that links the crime to West Berkeley’s Your Black Muslim Bakery.