Officer Kills Wife, Commits Suicide

An Anaheim police officer Monday fatally shot his wife, a former Los Angeles police officer, and 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 had just shot and killed his wife and wanted to kill himself, said Sgt. Jim Perry of the Fountain Valley police. He was identified by neighbors, his ex-wife and a police source 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 had left the force two years ago, department officials said.

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

Perry declined to release names of the deceased until coroners complete their investigation.

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

Neighbors said King had five children, including two who attend Cox Elementary. They were escorted out of class by police shortly after the bodies were found.

The couple had sought counseling from a Mormon leader at King’s church for 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.

Described as a Model Tenant

King moved to the Fountain Valley home in 1997, said 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, Smith 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.

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. But, she said, her ex-husband was never abusive and was a loving father.

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 stunned officers at the Huntington Beach Police Department, where Bailey worked until 1998.

“We just wish his family the best,” said Lt. Chuck Thomas, who worked beach patrol with Bailey.

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

“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.”

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Times staff writers Mai Train, Scott Gold, Jack Leonard and Eric Malnic and Times correspondent Gene Maddaus contributed to this story.