OAKLAND, Calif. -- After months of Oakland police department denials, there's evidence that police delayed a raid on the former Your Black Muslim Bakery for two days, a delay some are saying may have cost reporter Chauncey Bailey his life.

For 16 months, word of a critical delay in the investigation into crimes perpetrated by individuals involved with Your Black Muslim Bakery has been swirling around the Oakland Police Department. The rumors indicate that the delay may have cost reporter Chauncey Bailey his life.

Now, the Chauncey Bailey Project has uncovered evidence that indeed there was a two-day delay and a possible reason behind the delay.

"I'm going to challenge you to produce your witness, because I was the one who personally made the decision…to go on the 3rd and not the 1st. It occurred in my office," said Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker in an interview Monday afternoon discussing the August 2007 raid on Your Black Muslim Bakery. "It was my decision and mine only to delay that."

Police already suspected bakery members in two killings, and they had a search warrant to look for specific guns, including the shotgun that police say was used on August 2nd to kill Bailey.

Later in the interview, the chief contradicted himself: "It was never scheduled to go on the 1st. Everybody who was involved in this knew I was going to make the decision."

Similarly, Assistant Chief Howard Jordan told the Oakland Tribune in October 2007 that he never had any date other than August 3rd.

And there's where the controversy lies.

Chauncey Bailey was shot to death on the morning of August 2nd, which leads people inside the department and out to believe that Bailey would still be alive had the raid happened on August 1st.

Attorney Mike Rains represents Lieutenant Ersie Joyner and Detective Sergeant Derwin Longmire, who at the time were both in the homicide detail in addition to being key players in the Bailey case. He refutes Jordan's claims.

"There was a delay. They had planned to go in to do the execution of the search warrant on August 1st," explained Rains. "But there was a discussion of the fact that the SWAT team commander was returning from a backpacking trip."

Rental agreements from U-Haul obtained by the project show that police rented two 17-foot U-Haul trucks on July 30th for the raid. But they were returned over the next two days -- sources say -- because U-Haul would not extend the rental agreements. Police then rented similar trucks from Penske.

Also, one SWAT officer told the project "We were doing a final run through at the Oakland army base on Monday [July 30th] to prepare for Wednesday's raid when word came down that we had to wait until Friday when Kozicki and Tracey got back."

That's a reference to now Deputy Chief Dave Kozicki and Captain Ed Tracey, the two SWAT team members who were on the backpacking trip.

"That had little or no impact on my decision. My decision was based on the fact that I personally wanted to review the operations plan," said Police Chief Tucker.

The project also quoted retired Oakland Police Lieutenant Pat Garrahan -- who was a watch commander in July 2007 -- as saying SWAT officers told him that the "backpacking trip was the reason for the delay." Chief Tucker denies that assertion.

"That decision was made based on what I thought was reasonable assurance that we were prepared, that we had rehearsed, that we had a multi-agency unit that was prepared to go that had done the rehearsals," said Chief Tucker

While there are no accusations of police misconduct in any delay, attorney Mike Rains said the alleged delay and the actions of department brass since should trigger a change at the top.

"They delayed the execution of these search warrants, and a man is killed. It's a tragedy that get's compounded with that," said Rains.

Bailey's sister Lorelei Waqia told the project that if the department had moved earlier on the raid, Bailey would still be alive.