Ablogination

Do we have another Jim Adkisson?
Has Right Wing Republican Terrorism struck yet again?

When commenting on the Right Wing Terrorist, Jim Adkisson, we wrote…

I caution against assuming that this will be the last.

We’re not 100% sure at this point as all the facts are not yet in. But this is looking more and more like yet another act of Republican Right Terrorism like that which we saw in Knoxville.

Just waiting for more info, meanwhile, all real Americans be on your guard.

Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney was shot at the State Democratic Party Headquarters in Little Rock, Wednesday. His condition is unknown.

From the ADP:

Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Shot at State Headquarters
Reported by: KNWA Staff

Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008 @12:45pm CST

According to our sister station in Little Rock, A suspect is reported to be in custody after a police chase outside Little Rock after shots rang out late Wednesday morning at the State Democratic Party headquarters, sending one person to the hospital in critical condition.

Rep. Steve Harrelson says that witnesses inside the building told him that the person shot is Party Chairman Bill Gwatney, but there’s no official confirmation of that information.

Police were on the scene within minutes at 1300 West Capitol.

KNWA will update you as soon as more information becomes available.

UPDATE 1:
Arkansas Times

…At a briefing less than an hour after the shooting, police said the shooter left in a blue pickup. The truck was discovered close by. The man apparently changed to another car, which police were able to identify. A chase ensued and it ended in Sheridan, where police say the suspect was shot and taken into custody. His condition is unknown. The police had no indication of motive. Several Democratic employees were in the office at the time and were being questioned about what they’d seen.

The chase ended near the Winston Clinic on the northern edge of Sheridan in a developed portion of town. There were conflicting reports about whether police fired shots during the chase or after the car left the highway into an open field. Authorities were still swarming that scene in Sheridan at 1 p.m. A police spokesman said the man was airlifted from the scene.

Gwatney’s secretary made the 911 call from a florist shop next door. She was heard to tell the police dispatch: “Help, our chairman’s been shot.”

The shooter was described in the phone call as a man in his 40s, with whitish hair and wearing khaki pants.

Police may have picked up the shooter’s trail because he threatened someone with a gun nearby. Reports were that a man with a gun confronted a building manager in the Arkansas Baptist State Convention office building a few blocks east of Democratic headquarters and said he’d lost his job. He pointed the gun, but didn’t shoot. He fled in a vehicle whose description was reported to police.

Gov. Mike Beebe was en route by plane to Northwest Arkansas when the shooting occurred. He got word and returned to Little Rock. He was with the Gwatney family at UAMS…

UPDATE 2:

ArkTimes

Arkansas State Democratic Party Chair Bill Gwatney was fatally wounded at State Democratic Party Headquarters on Capitol Avenue about 11:50 a.m. today.

The suspected shooter was also fatally wounded in a shootout with police after a 30-mile chase into adjoining Grant County, a Little Rock police spokesman said. Various police sources identified the shooter as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, but the police weren’t officially confirming that and there were no indications of his possible motive. His next of kin were reached to make a positive identification and police were reluctant to release an ID that, though indicated by evidence he carried, might prove to be erroneous.

“Searcy” is a Republican heaven.
A Democratic Official has been assassinated by a Republican.

UPDATE 3:

KPLC TV/AP

Associated Press - August 13, 2008 9:23 PM ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas authorities say the man who shot and killed the head of the Arkansas Democratic Party had no criminal record.

Police in Little Rock say they have no motive for the fatal shooting of state Democratic party Chairman Bill Gwatney. He was wounded at party headquarters and died four hours later.

The gunman has been identified as 50-year-old Timothy Dale Johnson. Police say that moments after the shooting, he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. Johnson is said to have told the manager, “I lost my job.” Johnson was killed after a chase and shootout.

Gwatney, a 48-year-old former Arkansas state senator, had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention as a superdelegate. He had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton but endorsed Barack Obama after she dropped out of the race. Clinton and former President Clinton issued a statement praising Gwatney’s work and calling him “a cherished friend and confidant.”

UPDATE 4:

From the Associated Press

Timothy Dale Johnson: Right Wing Terrorist


Man fired from job kills Ark. Democratic chairman

By ANDREW DeMILLO – 1 hour ago

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — 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 losing 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 store in Conway fired Johnson early Wednesday because he had written graffiti on a wall, police said. A Target statement Thursday said Johnson “voluntarily quit” and did give any details.

Target said Johnson was an hourly employee at the Conway store, who had “no history of behavioral or performance problems at Target.”

“In the preceding days, he worked his regularly scheduled shifts without incident,” the company said in a statement.

More at link.