E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSWanted for murder, Brandon Lamont Bailey surrendered to police at a TV station in Lexington, Kentucky, to make sure his claim of self-defense was heard. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Employees at a television station in Lexington, Ky., got quite the surprise Monday when a man wanted for murder walked into the studio lobby to turn himself in to police.
Brandon Lamont Bailey, 28, the central suspect in the shooting death of 22-year-old Anthony Logan, showed up at NBC's LEX 18 station at approximately 10 a.m. He told station employees that he shot and killed Logan in self-defense after the two men were involved in a fight, LEX 18 assignment manager Mike Taylor said.
“He was calm, kind of teary-eyed,” Taylor said. “He kept telling us the story over and over and over, claiming it was self-defense.”
According to Taylor, Bailey walked in and approached the station’s front desk receptionist, who placed a call to Taylor while Bailey sat on a couch in the ground floor lobby. Shortly after, Taylor called police.
When Taylor and the receptionist told Bailey they had contacted the police, he said, "I'm fine with that," according to Taylor. Bailey spoke with Taylor and the receptionist for approximately 10 minutes before officers arrived, Taylor said.
"He seemed a little remorseful," Taylor said. "We didn't ask him why he [came to the station]. We basically just let him talk. It was a calm situation."
The receptionist asked Bailey if he was carrying a weapon. Bailey replied that he did not have a gun on his person, Taylor said.
Bailey said he had purchased a bus ticket to Louisiana to hide with family, but was persuaded by other family members to turn himself over to police, according to the LEX 18.
In a video recorded by LEX 18, Bailey tells the arresting officer his side of the story.
“If I was wrong, if I didn’t do nothing, I got my bus ticket in my pants. I was going to Baton Rouge, La. If I was wrong, if I killed that boy in cold blood, y’all wouldn’t have caught me. Y’all would have to kill me. Y’all would have to come and find me and all that other stuff.”
Bailey is now in police custody, Taylor said. He allegedly shot and killed Logan on the evening of Dec. 1 in front of Logan’s sister’s apartment. Bailey is charged with murder, in connection with a warrant issued the day after the incident, according to Lexington Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Storm pounds Upper Midwest with heavy snow, wind
- Cops: 2 University of Colorado students fed pot brownies to classmates, professor
- 3 dead, 4 hurt in Central California shootings, chase
- Cyber-graciousness: Students set up Facebook sites for compliments
- On gay marriage, Supreme Court could rule small, or big
- Video: Officers suspect high speed, alcohol in deadly NFL crash
Leave a Comment:
Killers sure can speak well and properly, y'all :-)
I'm going to completely assume here and go out on the limb in saying that I think this guy is lying. If he was innocent and it was completely self defense, then why didn't he turn himself in right away? Why didn't he go to the police station? Was the gun properly registered? I have a feeling this is just another thug playin' God.
I don't know. If I had ever killed someone in self defense, I would probably not think to immediately turn myself in to the authroities, especially if there are circumsatnces at play.
If the gun he used to defend himself with was illegal - how would that look? I'm sure there were myriad other reasons to be scared to go to the police, including growing up in a culture that demonizes police and makes the judicial systemout to be extremely racist.
Good point Demothenes 1985. It just reads very fishy to me and how he went about it all. Why get the train ticket if we was innocent and never planning to leave? It doesn't all add up to an innocent person.
Asking why an African American's first instinct isn't to turn himself into the police... well gee, I dunno. I mean, America has such a wonderful and rich history of even-handed justice when it comes to African Americans, doesn't it?
Of course the one asking the question was kind enough to use the word "Thug" when referring to said African American, revealing their own prejudice and making their question even more ridiculous than it already is.
He's black and he's uneducated, judging by his language.
A jury would take one look at him and convict him on those two things alone.
Regardless of his innocence, he did the right thing by turning himself in. It gives his story legitimacy, or he's much smarter than he lets on and is trying to build a credible story.
AzDrummer89
So can Ass Drummers (I'll interpret that to mean whatever I feel).
Ghetto ass mother f*cker.
He fücked your mother? That was rude of him.
Sad story. At least the guy showed some remorse. Otherwise he'd have been gone out of state, like he said. It may be interesting to learn all the facts in this case.
We can not convict him here on the vine, but he did man up and face the consequences. This also brings more closure to the family of both parties involved.
Thank you for your sensible comment! I read to many MSNBC comments and start to lose faith in people!!
I will give him plus marks for choosing a safe and neutral way to turn himself in without harm to any other person. That takes some courage and proof he was considering safety. He isn't perfect, he admits he was the one involved in a killing, but he "bit the bullet" and came in carefully. So, good for him on that.
If it was self defense, then the evidence should clear him. Thats if the Police do a fair investigation, and dont railroad him. Which is always possible when police officers make their careers off busting people. Its a blatant conflict of interest, if you ask me. This guy probably really believes it was self defense. Which menas it probably was. Unless he has a skewed idea of self defense laws.
Wow, I must have 6-pack abs then.
There is rarely enough evidence in a shooting to decide whether something was self defense or not. Most of the time it comes down to whether or not there were credible witnesses and whether the jury believes the suspect's story.
At least no one got hurt in his being taken into custody. Hopefully, there will be a fair investigation of his self defense claim.
I would say logic is not his strong suit.
At least this didn't end with a shoot out. It may also have been the family he thought he was going to stay with, decided not to allow him to hide there after all. Maybe they didn't want their names in the news or to be charged with aiding a fugitive. One never knows what can happen if you have a wanted murderer staying in your home. Who knows, they might have even been afraid of him, themselves.
Then again, turning himself in at a news station does provide him with lots of witnesses, so there is less chance of things turning ugly. Best solution when you think you've messed things up in your life. It is just a sad case someone had to die. What ever has happened in this man's life up to this point, he made the right choice to turn himself in.
Guns don't kill people, no sirree!
Never have saw one commence to murdering on it's own.....
Absolutely correct - in this case it was MAN that killed someone using a gun. I have several firearms in my residence (and at least one on me legitimately), and not one of them has ever so much as gotten up to go outside and see what the weather is like, find out what that strange noise out by my car was, or do me a favor and go check my mailbox - much less make up its mind to go out and go off on someone all on its own. My firearms all seem to be pretty much as dumb as a box of rocks with no built-in desire to do anything other than sit on the shelf or in their holster until I decide to do otherwise with them.
Guns definitely don't kill people; however, they make it really, really easy to kill people.
Definitely gets points for "manning up". So many today are ready to blame it on someone or something else. Whether self-defense or not, the fact remains that after thinking it all over he decided to admit that it was him that fired the shot that killed. Other circumstances that others have mentioned may have caused his initial flight response - such as the gun not being legally owned, and perhaps even his past record with law enforcement. But better a gun-charge than a murder charge if it was self-defense.
Uh oh...I see the gun lobby rhetoric raising its ugly head...
well i for one believe his story...after all it's always somebody elses fault or his up bringing...al and jesse will stand up for him..
It's a pretty sad situation all-around, but I'm glad he turned himself in, face what happened and that it didn't end up worse than it could've. Whether he's being truthful or not, hopefully the police and investigators can get the facts and sort this whole incident out now.