Police Find Note Bearing Gwatney's Name, Phone Number in Gunman's Home

[Seeking Serenity]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) _ Police exploring a possible link between the chairman of Arkansas Democratic Party and his assailant found in the killer's house 14 guns, antidepressants, a will and a Post-It note that bore the victim's last name and a telephone number.

Police say they know of no relationship between Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, and Bill Gwatney, 48, a car dealer and former state senator who served as the state's Democratic Party chairman. Johnson shot Gwatney to death Wednesday and was killed by officers after a 30-minute chase.

Wednesday's search of Johnson's home near Searcy, northeast of Little Rock, turned up two sets of keys for vehicles from Gwatney car lots. The guns included a pistol and 13 long guns.

Little Rock police Lt. Terry Hastings said officers didn't know what to make of the note with Gwatney's name on it. He did not know whether the telephone number was linked to either the Democratic Party or a car dealership, and did not disclose it.

http://arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?lID=64&sID=65&ms=86&cID=ZZZ&aID=107305.94518.119431

This just gets more and more bizarre. Maybe it did have something to do with Bill's role as car dealer, not as politico.

Bad craziness.

[Mme. Defarge]

1. A repo maybe? n/t

[magellan]

2. Can anyone explain why Johnson would have two sets of keys from a dealership?

Had cars from them that were repossessed and didn't return the keys?

[AlCzervik]

4. i was cleaning out the dreaded junk drawer in my kitchen a few months ago and

found 3 sets of keys to cars i haven't owned in a very long time.

[Dreamer Tatum]

5. Probably correct

Sounds like the guy's life was circling the drain, and he took it out on the guy whose name was on the door of the dealership.

Very small comfort that it doesn't APPEAR to be political. For now.

[notadmblnd]

17. but dealerships don't reposess the cars, who ever holds the bank note does.

[magellan]

19. Do most people make that distinction?

I know I did, when I was paying for my first car. My checks were written to the finance company, not the dealership. But I don't know if it works that way for everyone or (more likely) if everybody appreciates the difference.

:shrug:

[notadmblnd]

20. I would think so

as you said, when you finance a car you know you're financing with with a bank or one of the big 3 credit corporations. How would that slip the average Jo's mind?

[tammywammy]

22. Not everyone knows the distinction

I've taken plenty of phone calls from people wanting to know their payoff on their vehicle that they purchased from the dealership I've worked at. I always ask "who did you finance your vehicle with?" Most will say the name of the dealership and I have to correct them and say "So with Volkswagen Credit?" and give them that phone number.

The only people that do in house financing of car deals are the tote-the-note lots mostly, because it's a hassle having to repo vehicles.

[magellan]

23. Maybe it isn't about repos then, but his attempt to get another

...more fuel efficient car and being refused because of past repos of Gwatney cars? As someone pointed out, he was driving 50 miles a day to work at Target, in a Dodge pickup, which must have been burning holes in his wallet.

Pure speculation here. It's a puzzle I hope we'll get answers to.

[gatorboy]

36. He had already lost his job at Target though.

They fired him for writing graffiti on the walls. Curious as to what he wrote.

[theometry]

40. Makes sense!

Why would the police mention the keys and not the cars? The cars must have been gone. If so, that is enough motive for someone who is already mentally unstable.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Why not release the phone number?

Which number? His home? His business? The DEM HQ?

14 fucking guns??

[Sanctified]

10. 1 Pistol and 13 Long Guns or Rifles and Shotguns.

Having 13 rifles is really not unusual if you are an avid hunter.

[Indenturedebtor]

16. No it's wasteful but not unusual. n/t

[Sanctified]

18. How is it wasteful? You use a different rifle depending on the game. n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

25. 13 different rifles? Is one of them an elephant gun? n/t

[Sanctified]

26. Do you hunt? n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

27. Not regularly but I have for small game

Do you really need more than a small caliber for small game, a big caliber for big game, and a shotgun?

I mean seriously. The rest is just "oooo shiny".

[Sanctified]

28. You would definetely want to use a different caliber rifle or gauge shotgun depending on the game.

I would not use the same rifle to hunt squirrel as I would javelina, nor would I prefer to use the same rifle for Deer and Elk. I also prefer to use a different shotgun depending on the size of the bird I am hunting, I prefer a 20 guage for quail and pheasant while a 12 gauge for duck. This is just personal preference you could get by with just 2 rifles and 1 shotgun but then you are either going to take the risk of totally obliterating the animal or not killing it.

[Indenturedebtor]

29. Ok so 2 shotguns and 2 rifles then? If you were going to hunt anything that moves?

Look I own stuff that I don't need two of - like video games for example. I'm not the ghandi of conservation myself. But to "call it like it is" 13 rifles is more "ooo shiny" than anything else.

[Sanctified]

31. No different than someone who collects books or art. n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

37. Well there is a bigger footprint I think, and it could be argued that very few guns are food

for the soul heh. But I'm not suggesting we come to your house and take your rifles away heh. I'm sure that we can both agree that it's better to save up money to buy a really nice special gun than to fill one's house with assembly line crap just because it's fun to buy things.

[theboss]

6. I know everyone in America is on anti-depressants....but....

I'm curious most about his mental health history.

Though the fact that he apparently bought cars from Gwatney is somewhat interesting. Of course, I've bought a few cars from the "Rosenthal" family and I don't know if they even exist.

[Bucky]

34. Thank God Cal Worthington is still with us

No, buying a car from a dealership is far from being a plausible motive for killing the lot's owner.

[Fumesucker]

7. What I'm more interested in knowing is....

Did this guy own the guns legally?

In other words, was he a "law abiding citizen" up until the point he offed someone?

[Sanctified]

11. He had 13 Rifles and Shotguns so I would guess he bought them legally. n/t

[slackmaster]

14. All the reports I have read indicated he had no criminal record at all

Nothing.

[theometry]

41. This is not about the guns. It is about the cars.

That is why the police won't say anymore about the keys or the phone number.
I am guessing that the phone number was to the dealership and the cars were repossessed.

Even if the bank did the repossession, Johnson's first call may have been to the dealer. If they treated him rudely, he could have snapped.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. We'll probably know more. The police also took his computer.

[Joanne98]

42. What's taking them so long. I'm bringing to think they're covering up something.

[tularetom]

9. What I want to know is how many limbaugh, weiner, coulter and hannity books they found

Haven't heard a word about this yet.

[DangerDave921]

15. LOL

Another poster is already calling for RW radio to be banned as hate speech because it advocates killing people. I guess we should ban RW books too.

[Judi Lynn]

38. How is a rw book you have to personally pick up and buy or borrow similar to a hate radio station

which takes up valuable space in everyone's limited number of radio choices, and takes up space which at one time was available for stations offering local news coverage, live announcers and absolutely NO political agenda whatsoever?

[DangerDave921]

39. I was being facetious

I don't think books or radio programs should be banned based on content alone.

[Peregrine Took]

12. Any bumperstickers on that truck? The nuttier the wingnut the more

virulent are their slogans.

[Seeking Serenity]

13. A photo in the Democrat-Gazette today showed the front of his truck.

It had a Razorback plate on it.

[blogslut]

21. And after the shooting he went to the AK ST. Baptist Convention headquarters

and brandished his gun at those people.

This man was messed up.

[DogPoundPup]

24. Another link here on shooter/murderer ...

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Police say the man suspected in Wednesday's shooting death of Arkansas Democratic party chief Bill Gwatney had just been fired from a Target store.

Police later shot and killed Timothy Johnson after a 30-mile chase.

Police in Conway say he'd been fired earlier for writing graffiti on a store wall and that store employees said his body shook as he turned in his ID badge.

A neighbor says Johnson kept to himself, was "kind of different" and she never felt comfortable with him.

Meanwhile, Bill and Hillary Clinton have issued a statement calling Gwatney a strong state party chairman and a "cherished friend and confidant."

He'd been planning to go to Denver later this month as a delegate for Senator Clinton at the Democratic convention.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/world/news_article.aspx?storyid=94686&catid=22

[MGKrebs]

30. Hmm. Lotsa guns. I suppose it's still possible it was related to the

militia ruling earlier in the day. If this guy was connected to the militia (even only sympathetically) he might have decided to take it out on what he perceived as the enemies of gun rights; Democrats.

Here's the story:

"A federal appeals panel Wednesday upheld the weapons conviction of Hollis Wayne Fincher, who was leader of the Washington County Militia.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Fincher was not protected by the Second Amendment because he was not part of a well-regulated state militia, even though Fincher had written numerous officials seeking sanction. The court also ruled that possession of a machine gun and a sawed-off shotgun were not protected because they are not weapons that law-abiding would have for lawful purposes. "

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=70760&catid=2

Speculative, but an avenue I hope the cops are looking into.

[ColbertWatcher]

32. Name and phone number on a Post-It?

Later the guy goes into the office claiming he wants to volunteer?

Sounds like he called the office, asked who was in charge and wrote them down.

Now, why he did what he did--that is the mystery.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[malaise]

35. Will we ever hear what they found on his computer n/t