By Xinhua,
Beijing : A man who claimed he wanted to be a campaign volunteer, instead pulled out a handgun on Wednesday and shot to death the Arkansas state Democratic party chairman, according to police officials in Little Rock.
Chairman Bill Gwatney, 48, died four hours after the shooting. The former state senator had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention later this month as a superdelegate.
Officials said they don’t know the motive of the suspect, who led police on a about 48-km (30-mile) chase before dying in a shootout. They described the man as a 50-year-old, but did not release a name.
Moments after the shooting he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby Arkansas Baptist headquarters, police said. He told the manager “I lost my job,” said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official.
“He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie,” said 17-year-old party volunteer Sam Higginbotham. He said that when the suspect was refused a meeting with Gwatney, he pushed past employees to reach the chairman’s office.
Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said the suspect and Gwatney introduced themselves to one another, at which time the suspect “pulled out a handgun and shot Gwatney several times.” Hastings didn’t say what the two discussed, but said their discussion was not a heated one.