Even though his wife had reportedly moved out for a while – and family members said she was “scared” – neighbors say there were no signs that Mark Bailey would do what he did.
“The man was a very quiet person, he showed no sign of a disturbance,” said a friend of the family at the scene on Monday, February 22. “Nobody saw any indication into this developing into what happened here today.”
Bailey, a bus driver, shot and killed his wife, Dionne Coy-Bailey, and their daughters – Yonique, 19, and Yolon, 14 – before turning the gun on himself. The bodies of the women were discovered in their bedrooms; Mark’s body was sitting up on a living room couch.
A note left behind read chillingly, “I am sorry. Love, Mark.”
Reports claim the couple had been having marital problems.
Relatives discovered the gruesome scene when they got no answer at the house on 230th Place in Laurelton.
Dionne, an assistant principal for Humanities at A. Philip Randolph High School in Washington Heights, was set to be picked up, as usual, by her sister, Dorrett Coombs, vice principal at the same school.
Joseph Davidson lives on the first floor of the two-family house, underneath the Baileys. He told The Courier that he did not hear any shots over night.
“I saw the brother-in-law holding his head, crying and he told me to look inside,” said Davidson. “I saw a lady lying on the bed, dead. I wasn’t sure if it was the mother or one of the daughters.”
Yonique was a student at Stony Brook University and Yolon was a freshman at Cardozo High School.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said that a crisis team would be on hand at both Cardozo and Philip Randolph to help students and colleagues deal with the tragedy.
“The school [Philip Randolph] is very saddened by this, and the principal has a crisis team to work with students and staff and to counsel them through this difficult time,” said spokesperson Margie Feinberg.
– With reporting by Michael Fiacco and Despina Kouvaros
