Officer Kills Wife, Himself

An Anaheim police officer on Monday fatally shot his wife, who was a former Los Angeles police officer, then killed himself before SWAT teams stormed their Fountain Valley home.

The shootings rattled the quiet residential neighborhood, forcing an elementary school to lock students in classrooms.

A distraught man called 911 at 9:40 a.m. and reported he just shot and killed his wife and wanted to kill himself, said Sgt. Jim Perry of the Fountain Valley police. A police source, the man’s ex-wife, a religious counselor and neighbors identified him as Anaheim Police Officer Joseph Bailey, 44.

After repeated telephone calls by police negotiators went unanswered, officers stormed the modest home at 11:45 a.m. Inside, they found the bodies of Bailey and Michelle King, 39. King was a Los Angeles police officer who left the force two years ago, Los Angeles police officials said.

“We tried talking to him, but never got to him,” Perry said.

Police ordered an evacuation of all homes within two blocks of the house on La Marquesa Avenue and also ordered a “lock down” at James H. Cox Elementary School, which abuts the backyard.

Neighbors said King had five children, including two who attend Cox Elementary. Police escorted them from class shortly after the bodies were found.

The couple had sought counseling from a Mormon leader at King’s church because of ongoing domestic troubles.

“As late as last night, Joe Bailey called . . . and said they were having some marital difficulties,” said Bruce Miller, the regional head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

King moved to the Fountain Valley home in 1997, according to her landlady, Helen Smith, who said she was a model tenant. Smith said she took an instant liking to King, who told her she was a divorced mother trying to get back on her feet.

“She was very nice,” Smith said. “I didn’t even do a check on her. I rented to her, and it turned out she was a good girl.”

About a year ago she began noticing Joseph Bailey’s name on the rent checks.

“I just assumed someone was helping her with her finances, or maybe someone was living with her,” Smith said. “She had been sick for a while.”

The couple’s neighbors said King had been seriously ill for several months, possibly with cancer, and was not working at the time of the shooting.

According to Riverside County court records, Bailey divorced Patricia Bailey of Corona, his wife of 17 years, last July. The couple had two children.

“He was a man that did not want to be told what to do or how to do it,” Patricia Bailey said Monday. Still, she said, her ex-husband was never abusive, and was a loving father.

As of late Monday, police reported only sketchy details of the crime, and did not explain what might have triggered the apparent murder-suicide. Perry declined to release names of the deceased, until coroner’s deputies complete their investigation.

He said only that the caller seemed despondent when he phoned 911.

Bailey was stationed at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, and had worked in the gang unit as well, according to a police source who asked not to be named.

“We kind of walked around in a daze all day. It’s unbelievable,” said the source. “He was a tremendous man. . . . He had the potential for a good career: bright, intelligent and very personable.”

The news also stunned officers at the Huntington Beach Police Department, where Bailey once worked.

“I was saddened and shocked,” said Lt. Chuck Thomas, who worked beach patrol detail with Bailey. “We just wish his family the best.”

Thomas said the officer was well liked by co-workers.

He said Bailey left Huntington Beach to work for the Anaheim Police Department in 1998.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Rick Martinez confirmed that the department had an employee named Joseph Bailey, but would not say if he was the officer involved in Monday’s shootings.

Bailey began his career in law enforcement with the California Highway Patrol. He graduated from their academy in 1984, and was assigned to south Los Angeles County, said CHP spokeswoman Anne DaVigo. He left the force to join the Huntington Beach Police Department in 1992.

On Monday, school officials evacuated every classroom within sight of Bailey’s back windows, and ordered teachers in other rooms to confine their students for nearly two hours. The school has 685 students.

“We had a flood of calls from parents, and I tried to assure them that everyone was safe,” said Marc Ecker, superintendent of the Fountain Valley School District. “The safest place they could be was in the classroom.”

Still, nearly two dozen frightened parents drove to the school.

“I saw all the commotion, and I knew something was wrong,” said Dena Thompson, who lives within a block of the school and has a daughter in third grade. “The school did a great job.”

Ecker said school counselors will be on call for youngsters who may be troubled by Monday’s deaths, and counseling will be offered to children of the deceased.

Kristen Kloppenburg, who has four children attending the school, worried about having to explain such a tragedy to them.

“I just have to be honest. It’s tragic, and, unfortunately, horrible things happen to people who don’t deserve it,” Kloppenburg said. “I don’t know what else you can say to a kid, especially an 8-year-old.”

Times staff writers Scott Gold, Jack Leonard, Richard Marosi and Eric Malnic, and Times correspondent Gene Maddaus contributed to this report.