3 face murder charges in Wantagh student's slaying

Nearly a year after a college student from Wantagh who dreamed of becoming of police officer was shot to death on an Albany street, three teenagers were charged Monday with his killing.

Richard Bailey, a 22-year-old senior at the University at Albany, was shot in the head during a robbery attempt on Oct. 20, police said.

PHOTOS: 3 charged in LI student's murder

Devon Callicutt, 19, of Rensselaer, King Jamell Modest, 17, of Albany, and Ricardo Caldwell, 18, of Schenectady, were all charged Monday in the slaying. Callicutt is charged with firing the fatal shot.

James Bailey, the victim's father, who was in Albany Monday where the three men were arraigned, said in a Albany Times Union interview that the arrests were small consolation for the loss of his son.

"It's not going to bring Rick back. . . . I don't know if closure is the right word."

Callicutt is charged with first-degree murder as the one who fired the fatal shot, police said, and the two others with second degree murder. After the shooting, Callicutt left the scene and robbed someone else on a nearby street just seven minutes later, police said.

Callicutt was arrested in November and is serving time in Coxsackie state prison after being convicted on an unrelated weapons charges case.

Det. James Miller, of the Albany Police Department, told Newsday Monday night that police had focused on the three suspects for several months before the grand jury handed down the indictment Monday. "It was an attempted robbery," Miller said. "They just picked him out. Richard was in the wrong place at the wrong time. . . . You're talking about a ruthless act on their part. Cold-blooded."

Bailey, a sociology-criminal justice major, had hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and become a police officer. His father is a retired New York City police officer, and Bailey had recently taken the examination to join the NYPD.

Bailey had joined friends to watch a football game at a local bar for the first half of the game before heading to a friend's apartment and then heading home. He was walking alone around 11:20 p.m. a few blocks from his off-campus house when he was shot once in the head, detectives said. He was taken to Albany Medical Center, but was declared brain dead. He was taken off life support about 14 hours later.

Hundreds of people filled St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Levittown a few days later at his funeral, including uniformed New York City, Nassau County and SUNY police.

During the service, Bailey was characterized as "not just another good kid," but an exceptional one - tender toward his family, serious about his studies, and hoping to pursue a career in which he would help others. The Rev. Jerry Ringenback said that even in death, Bailey would still do this, as he would be an organ donor.

PHOTOS: 3 charged in LI student's murder