LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — 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.
They said Chairman Bill Gwatney, 49, died four hours later at University Hospital in Little Rock after the midday shooting near the state Capitol.
Witnesses said the gunman entered the party offices shortly before noon and said he wanted to see Gwatney about volunteering. Party officials said the man forced his way into Gwatney's office and fired three shots, then fled in a blue truck.
"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.
Gwatney, a former state senator and a Hillary Rodham Clinton superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention this month in Denver, had served 10 years as a state senator.
Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, issued a statement calling the 49-year-old Gwatney "not only a strong chairman of Arkansas' Democratic Party, but he is also a cherished friend and confidante."
After the midday shooting, the suspect was chased into Grant County, south of the capital, and apprehended after being shot. Police fired at the man but it wasn't known whether he also suffered self-inflicted injuries.
Moments before the Democratic headquarters shooting, a man with a gun threatened the building manager of the Arkansas State Baptist Convention headquarters seven blocks east. It wasn't known if the incidents were related.
Dan Jordan, the denomination's business manager, said the building manager asked the man what was wrong and that he said "I lost my job."
The state Capitol was locked down for about an hour until police got word the shooter had been captured, said Arkansas State Capitol police Sgt. Charlie Brice.
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."
