Bill Gwatney

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Bill Gwatney
Gwatney.jpg
Chair of the Arkansas Democratic Party
In office
2007 – August 13, 2008
Preceded by Jason Willett
Succeeded by David Pryor[1][2]
Member of the Arkansas Senate
from the 19th district
In office
1993 – January 13, 2003
Succeeded by Terry Smith
Personal details
Born William A. Gwatney
August 26, 1959
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Little Rock, Arkansas
Political party Democratic
Children Christian and Chase

Bill Gwatney (August 26, 1959[3] – August 13, 2008) was an American politician who served as the State Chair of the Democratic Party of Arkansas.[4] Prior to being State Chair, he was a State Senator for 10 years. He had also been the financial chair for Mike Beebe's run for Governor of Arkansas in 2006. He owned three car dealerships in Pulaski County.[3][5] Gwatney was selected as a superdelegate at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, but was assassinated before serving. He was replaced by his widow Rebecca Rankin.

Death

On August 13, 2008, Gwatney was fatally wounded[6] when a man, identified in news reports as Timothy Dale Johnson, 50,[7][8] entered Democratic Party headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas and shot Gwatney three times.[9] Gwatney was taken to a hospital, but died at 3:59 pm CDT.[6]

The gunman had said he wanted to speak with Gwatney about volunteering, but sidestepped his assistant when she said he was busy.[10] After the shooting, the gunman fled the scene in his truck and led police on a 30-mile (48 km) chase out of Little Rock.[10] Johnson was fatally shot by police after a PIT maneuver forced him off the road into a field near Sheridan.[9][11] No motive was discovered, except Johnson quitting his job at a Target retail store earlier that day.[1][2]

Honors

The UALR (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) Athletic Department posthumously inducted Gwatney into their Hall of Fame during a ceremony prior to the tip-off of the men's basketball game vs. New Orleans on February 26, 2009.

See also

References

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External links

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  • ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  • ↑ AP story[dead link]
  • ↑ The Cabin article
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