Incident Happened Outside Restaurant Near Valley View Mall

AGENT CHARGED IN FATAL SHOOTING

Officials Are Looking Into Whether There Is A Connection Between The
Agent's Investigation And The Shooting.

A federal drug agent from Texas on temporary assignment in Roanoke was
charged with murder early Tuesday after police said he got into a scuffle
with a man outside a Valley View Boulevard restaurant.

Keith Edward Bailey, 41, who lived in the Lincoln Terrace housing project
on Gandy Drive Northwest, died in the parking lot of O'Charley's after
being shot several times in the chest, Roanoke police said.

Timothy G. Workman, 31, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent
based in McAllen, also faces firearms charges in connection with the
shooting, which occurred just after 2 a.m.

Roanoke police and the DEA released few details about the shooting Tuesday,
saying it was still under investigation. DEA spokesmen from the agency's
headquarters near Washington said it was "unknown at this time" if there is
a connection between Workman's investigation and the shooting.

The DEA would not say what Workman's investigation entailed, whether he was
working with any local authorities or if any other Texas agents were in
Roanoke with him - those questions deal with operations and can't be
discussed, said Special Agent Michael Chapman, a DEA spokesman. Police said
Workman and Bailey had been patrons in the restaurant, which closes at 2
a.m., but did not know each other. Police spokeswoman Shelly Alley said a
"verbal exchange" in the parking lot led to a physical fight, which led to
the shooting.

Alley would not say how many times Bailey was shot.

Bailey's brother, Michael Patterson, said police told him the confrontation
began when Bailey and a friend saw a woman they both knew sitting in a car
with the suspect in the parking lot of O'Charley's. Bailey and his friend,
who were sitting in another car, began talking to the woman.

The man who was with the woman did not like Bailey and his friend talking
to her, Patterson said police told him.

Words were exchanged, and the suspect made an obscene gesture , Patterson
said. The two men got out of their cars to fight, and Bailey was shot.
Asked if Bailey was armed, Alley said only that one weapon - Workman's
revolver - was recovered.Workman has been with the DEA for four and a half
years, in its McAllen field office, which is at the tip of south Texas near
Mexico.

Agents from the DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility traveled to
Roanoke on Tuesday to conduct an internal investigation, Chapman said.
Agents will look at whether there was possible misconduct by Workman and
whether he violated policy. The investigation will also determine whether
Workman was on-or off-duty.

In accordance with DEA policy, Workman has been placed on leave with pay.
He's being held in the Roanoke City Jail without bond.

Tuesday's incident isn't the first time a DEA agent has been involved in a
shooting in Virginia.

Three years ago, two men were shot by off-duty DEA agents outside a Hampton
bar. Six agents went to the bar; several were thrown out for being rowdy.
Outside, a shouting match erupted among three agents and three Hampton men.
Two of the Hampton men - one of whom had a gun - were shot, although both
survived.

One of the agents was convicted of unlawful shooting into an occupied
vehicle but did not get any prison time. He was forced to resign, and the
incident, along with a DEA shooting in El Paso, Texas, led to the head of
the DEA issuing a directive prohibiting armed agents from drinking
excessively on- and off-duty.

Alcohol was not mentioned as a factor in Tuesday's shooting in Roanoke. Law
enforcement officers, however, are allowed to carry concealed weapons into
an establishment that serves alcoholic beverages. "It's too early to tell
just yet" why Workman was in the bar, Chapman said.

Jerry Lay, area supervisor of O'Charley's, declined to talk about specifics
of the incident Tuesday but said O'Charley's was working with police.

Meanwhile, as word spread about Bailey's death Tuesday, a group of his
friends and relatives gathered at his apartment. They said they were
shocked that someone with Bailey's laid-back personality would die in such
a violent way.

Although he would have held his ground if confronted, Bailey would not have
gone looking for trouble, they said.

"It would have had to come to him," said brother-in-law Larry Cunningham, 34.

Family and friends said they'll remember Bailey - nicknamed "The Special K"
for his prowess at basketball and track - as the cool guy with a smile on
his face, good with children, always ready to help someone if he could.

Bailey left behind four stepchildren and another child, ages 10 through 17,
said his wife, Frances Bailey. She struggled with her emotions Tuesday as
she talked about her husband of nine years.

"He just hollered at somebody he knew," said Frances Bailey, 37. "And
that's how it happened."

Staff researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this story.