OAKLAND, Calif. — The outspoken new editor of the Oakland Post was shot to death yesterday near a downtown courthouse in what police believe was a deliberate hit.

Chauncey Bailey, who had been a reporter for the Oakland Tribune before moving to the Post in June, was killed around 7:30 a.m., Oakland Police spokesman Roland Holmgren said. He said witnesses told police that a single gunman had shot Bailey and then fled.

Police had no motive for the killing but said it did not appear to be random. Mr. Holmgren said investigators would look into any possible connections with Bailey’s work.

“I’ve spoken with him several times,” Mr. Holmgren said. “I know him as being a somewhat outspoken type individual, assertive in his journalistic approach when trying to get at matters at hand.”

Oakland Tribune managing editor Martin Reynolds said Bailey was “a friend, a valued colleague, and a loving father” whose coverage of Oakland’s black community was “a tremendous asset.”

At the Oakland Post, Gwendolyn Carter, the paper’s advertising manager, said the staff of about 10 was shocked by Bailey’s death. “He was a good man,” Mr. Carter said. “He always took care of me. He would say I was his little sister and he was my big brother.”