Ark. Shooting Case Closed With No Answers
Police End Investigation Into Shooting That Left Democratic Party Chair Dead In Aug.
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This composite image shows Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney and the crime scene outside his office where he was shot and killed in August. (CBS/Arkansas Democratic Party)
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In this June 23, 2007, photo, Arkansas' Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney addresses his party's state convention in North Little Rock, Ark. (AP Photo)
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This undated photo shows a man identified by the police as Timothy Dale Johnson. Johnson barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters Wednesday and fatally shot the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase. (AP PHOTO)
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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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Interactive Guns In America State-by-state gun laws and death rates, maps of recent school and workplace shootings and facts on who's at risk.
Bill Gwatney died Aug. 13 after being shot three times by a Searcy man who had been fired from his job at a Target store that morning. Timothy Dale Johnson was chased into Grant County, where he was shot and killed after threatening officers.
A city police report said Johnson was on an antidepressant and that the drug may have played a part in his "irrational and violent behavior."
Autopsy results said Gwatney died from a shot to the head. Johnson was shot six times.
"I wish there was a conclusion, but there wasn't," said Lt. Terry Hastings, a spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department.
Authorities discovered a note with a telephone number and the word "Gwatney" on it in Johnson's home, but the report found that it was a telephone number for Gwatney Towing Company in Jacksonville, which is no longer in business. The note also listed other numbers for local towing companies, the report said.
The FBI also reviewed the history on Johnson's computer, and found that he visited Wikipedia, Yahoo and news sites the day before the shooting. Johnson also visited the Web site of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that day, the report said.
Gwatney owned three General Motors car dealerships and was a state senator for 10 years before becoming the state's Democratic chairman last year.
The 986-page report says police searched through electronic and paper files at Gwatney's businesses for Johnson's name, but that it never turned up.
"There's really no answer as to why he did it," Hastings said.
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- i wonder if the "investigation" would have turned up information if he had been a republican?
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- If the cops had managed not to kill the guy, they could probably have figured this out.
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