Man Quit Job, Then Killed Arkansas Democratic Party Chair, Police Say
The 51-year-old man who police say killed the Arkansas Democratic Party Chair at party headquarters yesterday had just quit his job at a Target discount store hours earlier.
Timothy Dale Johnson, who police say shot and killed Bill Gwatney, 49, before being killed himself in a police shootout, had an irate outburst before quitting his night-shift position, reports the New York Times.
The motive for the murder is unknown, and the suspect apparently had done nothing to make anyone think he might be violent. In a written statement, Target says that Johnson had worked at the Conway, Ark., store since November 2006 and “had no history of behavioral or performance problems,” the KHTV in Little Rock reported. Police in Little Rock say he had no prior record, as far as they can determine.
