DEA AGENT FACES MURDER CHARGE

ROANOKE - An agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was
charged with murder yesterday after the shooting death of a Roanoke man in
a restaurant parking lot, city police said.

Roanoke police allege that Timothy G. Workman, 31, a special agent with the
McAllen, Texas, office of the DEA, fatally shot the man with a revolver
during an argument and fight yesterday at 2:17 a.m. outside O'Charley's
restaurant.

Keith E. Bailey, 41, died where he fell, shot in the chest.

Police said both men had been in the restaurant before their confrontation
in the parking lot. Police spokeswoman Shelly Alley declined to say what
the two men were allegedly arguing about, saying only "a verbal exchange
led to a physical scuffle" and that the two men did not know each other.

Workman was off duty at the time, an official said.

Roanoke prosecutor Donald Caldwell said he was "not going to make any
comment until after Mr. Workman's arraignment. This has the potential to be
a little bit nasty because of the person involved and his history in law
enforcement."

Workman, of Mission, Texas, is scheduled to appear today in Roanoke General
District Court.

A spokesman for the DEA in Washington said Workman was in Roanoke on
temporary duty "for investigative purposes" but declined to elaborate. The
victim, Bailey, was convicted of distributing cocaine in 1990, but
authorities refused to say whether his history played any role in the shooting.

Workman, now being held in the Roanoke jail, has been suspended from duty
with pay, according to the DEA.

"Whenever a life is taken by any DEA special agent, a thorough review is
undertaken at the highest levels of the Department of Justice," said R.C.
Gamble, special agent in charge of the DEA's Washington division. "We will
work in conjunction with the Roanoke city police department and the
commonwealth's attorney's office to accurately determine the facts of this
case."

Roanoke investigators talked to witnesses inside and outside the restaurant
before charging Workman with murder, Alley said. He also was charged with
using a firearm in the commission of a felony.