Former Waynesburg man fatally shot in Uniontown
Marquell Lawrenc Bailey
A former Waynesburg man, who pointed a loaded shotgun at his girlfriend and their 2-year-old son in their borough apartment last November, was shot and killed Monday night when investigators said he and three other people attempted to rob a drug dealer in Uniontown.
Marquell Lawrenc Bailey, 25, was shot to death during the apparent botched robbery at a vacant Pershing Court apartment, Uniontown police wrote in court documents.
Police said Bailey and three others intended to meet with Derek Lee Royster, 29, of Uniontown, to purchase cocaine, but Bailey punched Royster and then attempted to rob him. Royster shot Bailey once in the chest about 6:30 p.m., police said, and then fired two shots at another person.
Police found Bailey outside the apartment. He was taken by ambulance to Uniontown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Royster is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and drug possession with intent to deliver. The three people with Bailey at the time, Megan Bowlen, 24, Joel Grooms, 30, and Miranda Engle, 30, all from Uniontown, were charged in connection with the attempted robbery and homicide.
Police are still searching for Royster, who reportedly left in a red pickup truck.
Bailey was convicted by a Greene County jury in May of recklessly endangering another person after he pointed the shotgun at his son and 22-year-old girlfriend, Corrin Raymond, at their Waynesburg apartment Nov. 30, 2016. He was acquitted on more serious charges of terroristic threats, endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Greene County Judge Lou Dayich sentenced him July 12 to serve 8 to 16 months in jail, giving him credit for time served after his arrest and allowing that term to run concurrently with a sentence for a probation violation. The Greene County district attorney’s office had appealed that decision, claiming the 10-month sentence for a probation violation should not run concurrently with the one for the reckless endangerment conviction, First Assistant District Attorney Brianna Vanata said.
Bailey was released from jail Oct. 3, according to Greene County jail records. He had been living in Fairchance.