Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney Killed By Gunman

A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.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 hour 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 calling Gwatney “not only a strong chairman of Arkansas’ Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidante.”

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.

Source