Unidentified mourners observe a moment of prayer at the spot where Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was gunned down Aug. 2, 2007, in Oakland (D. Ross Cameron/The Oakland Tribune)

Unidentified mourners observe a moment of prayer at the spot where Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey was gunned down Aug. 2, 2007, in Oakland (D. Ross Cameron/The Oakland Tribune)

By Harry Harris and Martin G. Reynolds, Chauncey Bailey Project

OAKLAND — The confessed killer of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey went looking for him twice at his home before ambushing and killing him Aug. 2 with shotgun blasts — some fired as he lay dying on a downtown street, police said Tuesday. Meanwhile, police confirmed Tuesday that an AC Transit bus driver may have seen a man police believe was Devaughndre Broussard with a shotgun minutes before he shot Bailey.

Sgt. Derwin Longmire said Broussard, a handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery, “was stalking” the journalist whom he was upset with for what he perceived to be derogatory stories either already published or being prepared about the bakery and its leaders and associates.

Based on the 19-year-old Broussard’s admissions and other evidence, Longmire said the suspect went by Bailey’s apartment near Lake Merritt Thursday morning shortly before Bailey was killed.

Longmire said Broussard also went by the apartment complex the night before but did not find Bailey there.

When he could not find Bailey leaving his apartment Thursday morning, Broussard got into a van and began driving the route he thought Bailey would take to get to the Post’s offices on 14th Street near City Hall, police said.

Although Broussard has insisted to police he acted alone, investigators believe he had an accomplice with him in the van.

Police said Broussard saw Bailey walking in the 200 block of 14th Street about 7:25 a.m. after he had eaten breakfast at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

Wearing a mask, dark clothing-clad Broussard confronted Bailey on the sidewalk.

A witness who asked not to be identified said he saw the killer approach Bailey. Recognizing the notable journalist and that he was in trouble, the witness said he was going to intercede, but stopped in his tracks when he saw a shotgun.

At that moment, he said, he was close enough to overhear Bailey say to his assassin, “Please don’t kill me,” but police cannot confirm that.

Longmire said Broussard fired a shotgun blast into Bailey’s chest, causing him to fall to the pavement. He then stood over Bailey and shot him twice more, including once in the face, said Longmire and the witness.

Longmire, who has investigated dozens of homicides in his career, said to him the “`most shocking aspect” about Bailey’s killing “is not necessarily the number of shots, but the callousness. This was in broad daylight in downtown. He did not care if anyone saw him.

“That is the most shocking to me. That showed his ruthlessness and deliberateness in doing this.”

After the shooting, Broussard escaped in the van, which had been parked nearby on Alice Street.

Police said an AC Transit driver may have seen Broussard with the shotgun at First Avenue and International Boulevard — which is near the apartment — about 7:17 a.m., eight minutes before Bailey was shot.

The driver notified AC dispatchers, who contacted the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which provides police services for the bus company.

Sheriff’s Sgt. J.D. Nelson said Tuesday that deputies responded to the area and searched unsuccessfully for the man. The bus driver did not see any vehicle the man may have been in.

As trained, the driver continued the route after seeing the shotgun-wielding man, and deputies did not locate the bus to get more details from the driver until it had traveled to 11th and Jefferson streets.

By that time, Bailey was dead.