Editor killed in possible 145;targeted146; attack

Roland Holmgren, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Department, said the killing occurred about 7:25 a.m. and involved a single gunman, clad head to foot in black and wearing a mask. Holmgren said Bailey, 57, was shot in the head and upper torso with a rifle or shotgun and died at the scene.

8220;It definitely doesn8217;t appear to be random,8221; Holmgren said, adding that there were multiple witnesses. 8220;This is downtown, a couple of blocks from City Hall, at 7:30 in the morning. There8217;s people going to work, kids on their way to camp, everybody starting their day and there you have something like this. It8217;s madness, a little bit, if you think about it.8221;

The police said they were looking into the possibility that the killing was related to Bailey8217;s work as a journalist, though no suspects have been named.

In June, Bailey was named editor of The Oakland Post, a weekly with a circulation of around 60,000 that covers issues involving African-Americans. He had previously worked for as a reporter at the daily Oakland Tribune, often covering issues of particular interest to Oakland8217;s African-Americans.

Paul Cobb, the publisher of The Post, said on Thursday that he would be speaking to the police about several articles Bailey had been working on that Cobb felt might have a bearing on the investigation. He declined to elaborate.