DEA AGENT CHARGED IN FATAL 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."