Man fired from job kills Ark. Democratic chairman

AP ^ | 08/14/2008 | ANDREW DeMILLO

[Phlap]

Police and neighbors are struggling to explain why a man described as a loner drove more than 30 miles to Arkansas' Democratic Party headquarters and fatally shot its chairman hours after getting fired from his job.

Police said Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, barged into Bill Gwatney's office on Wednesday and shot him multiple times. There were no signs that Gwatney and Johnson, who was later shot dead by officers, knew each other.

A Target retail store in Conway had fired Johnson early Wednesday because he had written graffiti on a wall, police said. Before noon, Johnson was in Gwatney's office in Little Rock with a handgun.

"He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie," said Sam Higginbotham, a 17-year-old volunteer at the party's headquarters.

[Phlap]

"He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie," said Sam Higginbotham, a 17-year-old volunteer at the party's headquarters.

If the story wasn't so tragic ...

[thefactor]

IBTL!

(in before thread lock)

AP...

[trisham]

The poor kid was probably in shock.

[WayneS]

Exactly. Where’s Captain Obvious when you need him?

[wideawake]

What did he write on the wall that got him fired?

What is the story behind this loser?

[1Old Pro]

This Chairman was a CLOSE political friend of Bill and Hillary.....more evidence that it’s not good for longevity to hang with the Clintons.

[trisham]

This may be too large an excerpt for an AP article. AM?

[SengirV]

Some of that info can be found here ...

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=70790&catid=2

[Always Right]

What did he write on the wall that got him fired?

Yeah, there are many possibilities. Perhaps he was an Obama supporter who hates the Clintons. Perhaps he was a Republican who blames the Democrats for hurting the economy. Either way, it is tragic, and prayers to the families.

[theDentist]

...Gwatney was a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention this month in Denver. He declared his support for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton after the Arkansas primary in February but endorsed Barack Obama after Clinton dropped out of the presidential race.

Thou shalt not betray a Clinton. Ever.

[Steely Tom]

What did he write on the wall that got him fired?

According to the story linked above, there was no racial or political content in his graffiti.

He had been employed at Target since 2006.

Sounds like a mental health issue, or possibly even an underlying physical issue (the Texas Tower sniper had a brain tumor, discovered at autopsy).

[wideawake]

Thanks for the link, SengirV.

Apparently the murderer, much like the anthrax psycho, had serious issues with sororities.

Was Gwatney in a fraternity?

[wideawake]

According to SengirV’s link, his grafitti was about the narrowness of Target’s hallways and the alleged involvement of Target management in campus fraternal organizations.

[HardStarboard]

I suggest you go to the link at post#8. There is nothing in the perps actions that betray a political motive.

Sounds like the wheels in his head slipped a cog!

[brytlea]

It really is. This sounds like a guy who just went nuts. I feel so bad for Gwatney and his family. I pray for them. What a senseless thing.

susie

[Always Right]

The guy looks like he is about 50, so why he is hung up on sororities, jocks and hallways is puzzling. Seems like this guy had some issues buried for a long time.

[muawiyah]

En zo, we find our link to the spinmeisters of the FBI. No doubt this fellow was little more than another disgruntled white male with a knowledge of biochemical warfare technology.

[airforceF4]

He was a stalker. Let’s get the politics out of here—he planned, he executed and he fled. And the police had to deal with the rest of this coward’s actions.

[Niteranger68]

If he lost his job, why didn't he shoot the Arkansas Republican chairman? Everyone knows Democrats create jobs, while Republicans get people fired. </s>

[wideawake]

It's actually astonishing to me the number of Americans who have, as the most defining characteristics of their mental world and their character, their life experiences between the ages of 16-19.

If someone has a bad senior year in high school followed up by a bad freshamn year in college, they often seem not to recover.