Issue date: 4/9/07 Section: News

Spencer Selvidge - THE BATTALION Most of the Northgate district was corded off by police crime scene tape Thursday morning. At 9:15 a.m., students going to campus were redirected to cross University Drive at Nagle Street.

The suspect accused of killing a Rice basketball player after a night of partying at a Northgate bar has been released on a $200,000 bail.

Brazos County Sheriff officials say Ronald Johnson Jr. bonded out Saturday night around 9 p.m.

The 23-year-old College Station resident was arrested last week and charged with the murder of Johnathan Bailey. Johnson is a United States Marine.

College Station police responded to a report of a shooting at the 100 block of College Main at approximately 1:45 a.m. Thursday. There was a reported altercation outside the V-Bar on the 110 block of College Main on Northgate in which two male victims received multiple stab wounds.

Jonathan Bailey, 22, was pronounced dead after being taken to St. Joseph Regional Health Center by College Station Fire Department personnel. Janson Bailey, his twin brother, is undergoing treatment for multiple stab wounds.

Jonathan was a sophomore guard for the Rice University basketball team. Janson was enrolled at Texas A&M through the end of the fall semester, but did not return for the spring.

Ronald Andrew Johnson, Jr., 23, was arrested on charges of murder Thursday.

Court documents state that Johnson and his friend Mike Fuller, also a Marine, got into a drunken brawl involving the Bailey brothers outside of V-Bar just before 2 a.m. Fuller told police he was kicked and punched by a group of people that included the Bailey brothers and that his injuries were so severe that both of his eyes were swollen shut.

Johnson told officials the confrontation started just before the bar closed. According to the reports, Fuller was in line at the bar when Janson was "humping up on his leg." Fuller then pushed Janson, who in turn punched Fuller in the face.

Witnesses told police officials that after the men were kicked out of the bar, fighting continued into an outside alley. The court documents state Fuller was then allegedly punched in the face, and the Bailey brothers were stabbed by Johnson.

Johnson told police he left with his friend and returned to an apartment in College Station where they washed his pocketknife in a sink, according to the court report. Police later found Johnson at the apartment because officers found Fuller's credit card at the bar, where he had opened a tab, police said.

"Obviously, we are shocked at the tragedy of epic proportions," said Willis Wilson, Rice men's basketball coach, in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this time. Every member of our program is grieving at the loss of a teammate and a friend."

As of Friday, Fuller had not been charged with criminal involvement pertaining to the incident, according to police reports.

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