LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) -- The killer of Arkansas' Democratic Party chairman had written his victim's name on a Post-It note and had two sets of car keys from his victim's car dealership, but links between the men and a motive for the slaying remains a mystery to investigators.
Police said Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, also owned at least 16 guns, had antidepressant pills and made out a will before shooting Bill Gwatney on Wednesday at party headquarters in Little Rock.
The name "Gwatney" and a telephone number were written on a Post-It note found in Johnson's home, police said. They wouldn't say whether the number matched the Democratic headquarters or a Gwatney-owned car dealership, if either.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A man recently fired from a Target store barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters Wednesday and fatally shot the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.
Police identified the suspect as 50-year-old Timothy Dale Johnson of Searcy, a town about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. They said that moments after the shooting, Johnson pointed a handgun at a worker at the nearby Arkansas Baptist headquarters. An official there said he told the worker, "I lost my job."
Chairman Bill Gwatney died four hours after the shooting. The 48-year-old former state senator had been planning to travel to the Democratic National Convention later this month as a superdelegate. He had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton but endorsed Barack Obama after she dropped out of the race.
Areas of a town in Arkansas have been placed under a 24-hour, non-stop curfew described by the mayor as "almost akin to martial law". The lockdown, issued after a spate of robberies, home invasions and shootings, applies to everyone in Helena-West Helena, no matter what age or what time of day it is.
Mayor James Valley has indicated that the curfew could be extended indefinitely. Residents have described the lockdown as "like being in jail" and critics have slammed it as unconstitutional given that it effectively suspends the fourth amendment.
"Imposing house arrest and suspending the Fourth Amendment for law-abiding people is only going to cause more problems for this city," said ACLU of Arkansas staff attorney Holly Dickson.
"They need to work with the community to get this resolved instead of treating all of their citizens like criminals."
Watch a report from CNN:
Only two months ago Trinidad, a "troubled" community in northeast D.C., was subject to police checkpoints after a series of shootings.
Earlier this year curfews for minors were introduced in Chicago.
Back in April we reported on the fact that federal law enforcement agencies co-opted sheriffs offices as well state and local police forces in three states for a vast round up operation that one sheriff's deputy described as "martial law training".
Earlier this month presumptive Republican nominee John McCain told the National Urban League that military-style invasions modeled on the surge in Iraq should be adopted to control inner city crime in the U.S.:
McCain: And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.
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