Bakery raid to elicit string of charges

Handyman has confessed to slaying editor, police say

http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1409

Demian Bulwa and Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writers

Oakland police will seek formal charges as early as today against several people associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery, including the alleged killer of a newspaper editor who had been working on a story about the controversial group that operates the bakery, the city’s assistant police chief said Sunday.

Howard Jordan said Devaughndre Broussard, a 19-year-old handyman at the bakery, had confessed to fatally shooting Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey, 57, near his offices Thursday morning. Broussard was one of seven people arrested in raids the following day.

Jordan said Broussard and others, under investigation for their part in an alleged string of crimes earlier this year, are part of a splinter group within the organization founded by the late Yusuf Bey more than 30 years ago. The splinter group, Jordan said, “promotes violence in the name of the Muslim faith and contradicts the teachings of (former Nation of Islam leader) Elijah Muhammad.”

Police will also seek charges of kidnapping for ransom in connection with a May 19 incident in which two people were abducted, Jordan said. Alameda County prosecutors must review evidence in the case – including documents, recordings and witness statements – and decide on charges by Tuesday.

Jordan said police will not seek charges at this point in two North Oakland slayings that have been linked to members of the group: the July slayings of Michael John Wills Jr., 36, and Odell Roberson Jr., 31. Sources have said the men’s deaths may have been linked to the bakery group’s effort to “cleanse” the area near the bakery on San Pablo Avenue.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/06/BAK8RDCBI1.DTL

2007-08-06