Pubdate: Wed, 13 Feb 2002
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2002 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Author: Rex Bowman

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.
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