‘Silly’ Bailey, 19, murdered

Rashad Bailey's football coaches at Richmond High School called him "The Prankster" and said he was always good for a laugh.

"He always had a joke, something to lighten the mood and get the whole team laughing," former Oiler coach Jeff Tyner said. "Rashad was a really likable guy. He didn't have an enemy on the team.

"Silly Rashad."

But on July 3, one of the deadliest days Richmond has seen in recent memory, gunmen killed the 19-year-old with a high caliber assault rifle, Detective Tim Gray said.

"(Bailey) was a different type of victim," Gray said. "He wasn't specifically targeted because he was Rashad Bailey. He was targeted because of where he was."

Bailey, a Contra Costa College student, was the 13th of 24 homicide victims in Richmond this year.

The murderous Sunday night started on Ohio Avenue around dusk when one person survived a shooting. Soon after, another person was shot as retaliation in North Richmond. Gray said immediately after those shootings, there were two more and one person died in North Richmond.

This triggered another retaliation shooting in Richmond and resulted in Bailey's death.

Another shooting happened in North Richmond after Bailey was killed and then, 8 to 10 minutes later, the last homicide occurred.

Six people were shot, three of whom died, that night.

"It was back and forth type of retaliation," Gray said. "He got caught up in that."

He said Bailey stopped in front 3203 Center Ave. less than 20 minutes after getting off work at Denny's in San Pablo. As he opened the door to get out of the first car he ever bought, a 1997 four-door Chevy Lumina, a car drove up and shot him multiple times with .223-caliber bullets, typically used with military assault rifles.

"The door opened, he stepped out," Gray said. "That's it."

The Richmond Police Department detective said Bailey stopped at the house to listen and work on music, for which he had a passion, and to hang out with friends.

"He wasn't involved with criminal activity that led to his death," Gray said. "Nothing like that. He was a man working multiple jobs, going to school."

Charles Johnson, campus security officer in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, knew Bailey as an RHS student and member of the 21st Century Mentors Foundation and said the class of 2009 graduate was the last person he expected to hear involved in trouble, let alone killed.

"He was willing to help anybody. He had a kind heart," said Johnson, who Bailey called "Uncle Charles."

"It's a total loss," he said. "I'm (in shock over) it."