Federal Agent Missing After Deadly Attack

Locked in a jealous rage that had been percolating for weeks, a suspended federal drug agent shot and killed his estranged girlfriend Wednesday in front of six children--including the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, police said.

The victim’s sister was also wounded in the attack at the sister’s Fullerton home, and police have launched a massive manhunt for Tony Gerard Bailey, 35, who disappeared in his black sport-utility vehicle after the shooting.

Bailey, a 10-year veteran agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, has been on administrative leave since 1997, when he was charged with felony child abuse for allegedly shaking his infant daughter so violently that she suffered severe brain damage, officials said. A judge dropped charges against him a year later.

Still, DEA officials said Thursday that Bailey remained on paid leave while they investigated him “for other serious violations of DEA policy” related to the shaken-baby case. DEA spokesman Lance Williams declined to elaborate but said Bailey has been relieved of his duty weapon, DEA credentials and authority to act as federal agent for two years.

“We are of course shocked and upset by the situation,” Williams said. “But right now our primary focus is assisting police in their search for this suspect.”

Witnesses said Bailey showed up at Wendy Campbell’s home on Oak Avenue around 10 p.m., when he was seen hiding in the backyard garden. Campbell’s fiance, James Fife, said he told Bailey to leave but wound up arguing with him on the front porch.

When Campbell, 35, opened the front door, Bailey burst inside and pulled out a handgun, Fife said. There was a brief struggle, but within moments the federal agent had grabbed hold of his estranged girlfriend, Veda Harris, and allegedly fired the 9mm handgun at her, said Fife, 45.

“He held her with one hand and put the muzzle to her head and just shot her,” Fife said. “Right there, in front of the kids and everyone.”

Two more shots were fired, one of which hit Campbell in the abdomen, before Bailey bolted from the house, according to police. He had indicated that he wanted to take his daughter with him, but left her behind, unharmed, Fullerton Police Sgt. Joe Klein said. No one else was injured. All six children were placed in protective custody at Orangewood Children’s Home.

Police declined to state the origin of the gun other than to say it was not issued by the DEA. After Bailey was cleared in the child abuse case, he requested that Anaheim police return another gun that was confiscated by detectives. Anaheim police declined to reveal Thursday whether they returned the gun, saying it could jeopardize the investigation.

Fife and several friends spent Thursday at Campbell’s house, scrubbing blood stains from the carpets and sofa and boarding up the windows that had been shattered by gunfire. They wished out loud that they could have done more to protect Harris from the attack, because she had voiced her fear of Bailey’s violent temper.

“She was afraid of him,” Fife said. “She was afraid for her life and moved in here with [her sister] to get away from him for good.”

Harris, described by relatives as a hard-working mother of three who hoped to leave her job as a cook and become a nurse, tried for years to make her relationship with Bailey work, said friends and family. When he was arrested on suspicion of abusing the couple’s 6-month-old daughter in 1997, Harris maintained Bailey’s innocence, according to family members. And she was at his side when a judge found “reasonable doubt” surrounding the case and dropped the charges against him.

But the couple had an “on-again, off-again” relationship ever since, according to friends. She finally left Bailey three weeks ago, after he chased her out of their Anaheim home during an argument one night, Fife said. She then filed a report with Anaheim police stating that Bailey had assaulted her and one of her other children that night.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas confirmed that officials were investigating Harris’ report, but said no arrests had been made.

Fife said it was when Bailey learned that Harris had started seeing someone else that he became enraged, threatening to kill them both if he ever caught them together.

Bailey is considered armed and dangerous. He is described as black, 6 feet, 2 inches tall, with a heavy build, shaved head and wearing a white T-shirt. He was last seen in a 1996 black Ford Explorer with California license plates 3NLW108. Police have asked anyone with information on Bailey’s whereabouts to call (714) 738-6817.

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Times staff writer Daniel Yi contributed to this report.