UAlbany to remember shooting victim at vigil

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob Conner

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The University at Albany community plans to memorialize 22-year-old homicide victim Richard Bailey at a vigil tonight.

Meanwhile, Albany police spokesman Detective James Miller reported no progress in tracking down Bailey’s killer.

The vigil will begin at 7 p.m. near the small fountain on the academic podium on the uptown campus.

Inspector Aran Mull of the New York State University Police said this may be the first ever confirmed homicide of a student at the University at Albany. He said the campus police force has been assisting city police both at the murder scene, on South Lake Street near Washington Park, and on campus. Two female students, however,Karen Wilson and Suzanne Lyall, disappeared while attending the university in the 1980s and 1990s and may be homicide victims.

Victory Christian Church is offering a $10,000 reward for information in the Bailey case. Pastor Charlie Muller said $5,000 is for finding and convicting the killer and $5,000 for recovering the gun. He said the church will put construction of a youth center in the South End on hold to come up with the money and said he had called the University at Albany to see if it will put up additional reward funding.

Muller said he sees an annual spike in crime after university students return in the fall.

“The city kids know some of these [university] kids are easy targets,” he said.

Although Bailey apparently was not robbed, Muller said he still thought his death probably resulted from a robbery attempt. The robber may not have meant to kill him, he speculated, and ran away in a panic after the shooting.