Gunman Kills Top Arkansas Democrat
State's Chairman Bill Gwatney Shot Three Times At Party Headquarters; Shooter Dies After Police Chase
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Play CBS Video Video Dem. Official Shot And Killed "CBS News RAW:" Arkansas Democratic Party official Bill Gwatney was shot three times by an assailant at the Party's headquarters in Little Rock. Both Gwatney and the gunman have died.
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Video Shooting At Ark. Democratic HQ "CBS News RAW:" Arkansas Democratic party chairman Bill Gwatney was shot by an assailant at the Democratic headquarters in Little Rock. Gwatney remains in critical condition.
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The scene outside the Arkansas Democratic Party headquarters; inset Bill Gwatney, the wounded party chairman. (CBS/Arkansas Democratic Party)
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A police investigator leaves the Democratic Party of Arkansas headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., after a gunman shot party chairman Bill Gwatney in the building, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
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Police crime scene tape surrounds the Democratic Party of Arkansas headquarters building in Little Rock, Ark., after police were called to a shooting, Aug. 13, 2008. Democractic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney was shot three times and later died of his wounds. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
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Police said they don't know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released. However, they said moments after the shooting, he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager "I lost my job," said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official.
Chairman Bill Gwatney died four hours after the shooting. The 48-year-old former state senator had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention later this month as a Hillary Clinton superdelegate.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, issued a statement expressing their shock and sadness at Gwatney's death:
“We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away. His leadership and commitment to Arkansas and this country have always inspired us and those who had the opportunity to know him. Our prayers are with his family during this time.”
Witnesses said the gunman entered the party offices shortly before noon and said he wanted to see Gwatney.
"He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie," said 17-year-old party volunteer Sam Higginbotham. He said the man then pushed past employees to reach the chairman's office, where he fired three times.
After the suspect avoided spike strips and a roadblock along U.S. 167 near Sheridan, police rammed his car, spinning it, said Grant County Sheriff Lance Huey. He got out of his truck and began shooting, and state police and sheriff's deputies fired back, striking him several times, he said.
The state Capitol was locked down for about an hour until police got word the gunman had been captured, said Arkansas State Capitol police Sgt. Charlie Brice.
Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat who served with Gwatney in the state Senate, had been on a flight to Springdale in northwestern Arkansas. He returned to Little Rock and joined an impromptu vigil at University Hospital after what he called a "shocking and senseless attack." Gwatney had been Beebe's finance chairman during the governor's 2006 campaign.
"Arkansas has lost a great son, and I have lost a great friend. There is deep pain in Arkansas tonight because of the sheer number of people who knew, respected and loved Bill Gwatney," Beebe said.
State Rep. Janet Johnson started to cry when she talked about Gwatney.
"This is like something you would see in New York or Pennsylvania or California, but not here," Johnson said.
Karen Ray, executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas, sent her workers home early "out of an abundance of caution."
"Our hearts go out to everyone at the Democratic headquarters. What a tragedy," Ray said. "This is just a very upsetting, troubling and scary thing for our staff as well."
House Majority Leader Steve Harrelson was at the state Capitol for a news conference on crime and that he didn't know of anyone who would want to harm Gwatney.
"You never think of something like this happening here in Arkansas," said Harrelson.
Sarah Lee, a sales clerk at a flower shop across street from the party headquarters, said that around noon Gwatney's secretary ran into the shop and asked someone to call 911.
Lee said the secretary told her the man had come into the party's office and asked to speak with Gwatney. When the secretary said she wouldn't allow him to meet with Gwatney, the man went into his office and shot him, Lee said.
Last November, a distraught man wearing what appeared to be a bomb walked into a Clinton campaign office in New Hampshire and demanded to speak to the candidate about access to mental health care. A hostage drama dragged on for nearly six hours until he peacefully surrendered.
The confrontation brought Clinton's campaign to a standstill just five weeks before the New Hampshire primary. Security for her was increased as a precaution. She said she did not know the suspect.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Posted by johnbush2 at 11:03 AM
Yeah - the anti-Christ is coming to get you. Booo! You fake Christians scare easy and use religion as a weapon a lot. Pathetic and kind of sad - a sign of our times. Real Christians put no such power in a man.
Clearly you''re a disturbed person who is somehow trying to mangle a murder into your anti-Obama fixation. You should really talk to someone about that. It''s bizarre that somehow you see this through your I-hate-Obama lense.
That is the face of the anti-Christ.
Posted by johnbush2 at 11:03 AM : Aug 14, 2008
My only question to you is - Are you a Christian ??? You do know what the Bible says about what your party and McCain are doing right now ??
That is the face of the anti-Christ.
Posted by libsluv2spit at 01:05 AM : Aug 14, 2008
Hahaha! If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it''s dam-ned sure a duck, BUSHITE! Only 159 days left! Enjoy!
Good men will not let evil prevail.
Posted by johnbush2 at 07:47 AM : Aug 14, 2008
YOU are sooo full of IT! A typical example of trailer park trash who learned how to use a computer. Good men will prevail! OBAMA IN 08!!!
A man with no sense of self-identity will become what others wish him to be, or what he believes others wish him to be. The empty vessel will naturally gravitate to crowds to be filled to the brim with their hopes, dreams, wishes, sores and frustrations. Only then will he feel complete. He will become their servant, their icon, to be placed on an altar to be worshipped and prayed to in self-effacing idolatry.
Obama has not deliberately posed as a miracle-working Messiah who promises to cure all ills for all complainants; that is how his supporters and most of the news media view him, but he is willing to meet them halfway. And his race, fundamentally, is immaterial, regardless of what importance others attach to it. Virtually every other candidate has mouthed the same bromides, clichis, and populist tripe as Obama. Why they have worked for Obama and not much for anyone else (especially not for Hillary Clinton, whose sincerity is transparently phony and calculating) can be ascribed to his "charisma," his public speaking skills, and the apparent sincerity of the "feelings" behind his words.
Edward Cline
Good men will not let evil prevail.
Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. senator (1925-1968).
Posted by Interobserv at 07:16 AM : Aug 14, 2008
"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don''t do anything about it."
Albert Einstein
"When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail."
Pearl S Buck
Decent Americans are called upon to speak up against evil and not remain silent. That is exactly what the supporters of anti-Christ Obama would have us do.
In an article he penned for the anti-Israeli website Electronic Intifada, Abunimah wrote:
"The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago%u2019s Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing.
"As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, ''''''''Hey, I%u2019m sorry I haven%u2019t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race.
I%u2019m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.'''''''' He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy [and said:] ''''''''Keep up the good work!''''''''"
Electronic Intifada
Jews who support the anti-Christ Obama might as well put a gun to their own heads.
"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
%u2014 Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. senator (1925-1968).
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