Major's shooting a tragedy for community, say authorities
By Arkansas Online Press Services
This article was originally published December 25, 2009 at 12:19 p.m. Updated December 25, 2009 at 8:31 p.m.
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Philip Wise
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Maj. Philip Wise, a big teddy bear of a man according to those close to him, worked for three years in the very neighborhood he was gunned down in.
The 40-year-old father of three joined the Salvation Army along with his wife, Cindy, 16 years ago, and they had spent the past few years reaching out to those in the Baring Cross neighborhood. The North Little Rock center provides youth programs, weekly church services and Sunday School and a food pantry, among other services.
Police don’t know whether Wise, who was active in the community, knew his attackers, he said.
Wise was returning to that Salvation Army center at 1505 W. 18th St. with his children Thursday afternoon when two black men, both with handguns, approached him and demanded money. One shot was fired, and Wise was killed as his children stood by. His wife, who was in the center at the time, was the one to call 911.
The family was about to leave for a Christmas trip to West Viriginia.
"It's such a tragedy for the community," said Sgt. Terry Kuykendall with the North Little Rock Police Department. "I hope they realize the loss."
Maj. Harvey Johnson, Wise's boss for the past year and a half, said Wise was an all-around good guy, a big teddy bear who loved sports. With Wise's children and Johnson's grandchildren around the same age, they shared many birthday celebrations together with their families.
The Wises had just adopted their children — ages 4, 6 and 8 — last year, Johnson said. The three were siblings who came from an abusive family. They were receiving counseling after their father’s death, he said.
“He was involved in the fabric of that community in a lot of different ways,” Johnson said.
He described Wise as “a big boy” who played “a big old tuba” in a brass ensemble and used his love of music to try help others.
“He encouraged kids in music as an alternative to the life they were living,” he said.
Kuykendall said he knew Wise, although they were not close friends.
“Mr. Wise within the last two months had spent so much time raising money so that several hundred children in this community could have a good Christmas, and for this to happen ... on Christmas Eve is just a tragedy,” he said.
Wise was originally from Weirton, W.Va., and his wife, Cindy, was from Charleston, W.Va. They met 16 years ago at a Salvation Army school in Atlanta, Johnson said. Both had worked for the Salvation Army ever since.
“He’s touched a lot of people,” Johnson said. “But who would he have touched if he had been able to live out his career?”
Authorities are hoping anyone with information into the shooting comes forward. Crimestoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for an arrest and conviction in Wise's shooting. The Crimestoppers number is (501) 758-1234.
The Salvation Army said any donations made in Wise's name will go toward music instruction at the organization's summer camp.
A Wise Family Memorial Fund will be set up soon, according to Kathy Barbeire with the Salvation Army.
Information for this article was contributed by Tom Parsons of The Associated Press.
Comments on: Major's shooting a tragedy for community, say authorities
Poorboy says... December 25, 2009 at 12:38 p.m.
RIP. What a tragedy.
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sidehack says... December 25, 2009 at 4:05 p.m.
This is the MOST Vile behavior anyone could ever exhibit.
The G.I.s only true friend in a combat zone is The Salvation Army, the Red Cross asks you to sign a repayment
plan paper. The Salvation Army gives the G.I. anything they
can without any strings attached. The perpatrators of this heinious crime deserve 'Cruel and Unusal Punishment' to say the least.
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kjlintner says... December 25, 2009 at 4:14 p.m.
Horrible situation. I grew up with the Salvation Army. My grandmother was an office worker for the SA in PA, and I later worked as a bell-ringer and youth worker. No organization cares for their community like the Salvation Army. The unsubs in this atrocity need to be removed from the planet, not just the community. I'm sure Major Wise would disagree and ask them to be forgiven, but he was a better person than I could ever hope to be.
God Bless the Wise family.
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dimplesnsuch says... December 25, 2009 at 4:24 p.m.
It's a tragic story and my heart and prayers go out to the family. But the race of the assailants dosen't matter.
Poor, rich, middle class and everone in between is capable of killing...these cold hearted monsters didn't kill this man because they are black or he was white. These type of people will kill anyone and believe me they will be caught...don't buy into the no snitch belief being indicative of people living in the "ghettos" or the black community. Remember now a lot of white people no snitched on Bernie Madoff or the whites that ran the insurance/banking institutions that made out like fat cats knowing what they were doing was wrong. This is not a time to use this man's killing as justification for dropping the n-word because the killers are black. Let's be smarter than that and pray for the major's family.
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M1911 says... December 25, 2009 at 4:34 p.m.
I am from Utah but this story really angers me and at the same time makes me sad. Forever more this man's family will remember Christmas as the day their father and husband was violently taken from them.
If you want to find the killers real quick make them worth more dead than alive. Everybody in the world will be looking for them.
Finally, I want to express my sincere condolonces to the family of this obviously big hearted, loving and caring man. May he rest in peace.
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billh says... December 25, 2009 at 5:10 p.m.
White, black, whatever... it matters only that they are caught, and put down. Hanging in public square is how it should to be done. Liberals who cry about the death penalty need to shut the hell up. These killers choose the death penalty when they murder innocent people. They need to die.
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rememberthealamo says... December 25, 2009 at 5:27 p.m.
Mark my words. These two savage animals had Christmas dinner with momma today and all is well. When they are caught their mother will say they are just misunderstood and/or I could not get them to take their medications. Within twenty four hours of Major Wise's murder, over 25 to 50 people will know but none will report. There is a unspoken unwritten code in the black community that you do not turn in your friends or family. The prosecuting attorney needs to start prosecuting those individuals that had knowledge and did not report. I am willing to pay more taxes for more prison space to lock momma and anybody else up that have knowledge of this heinous crime. What savages. They need the death penalty and the syringe needs to be a five gallon one. These savages are not through. Now that they have killed they will have a blood lust and kill again. Enough is enough. If you have information on these two savages you need to call crime stoppers now. May God comfort the Wise family.
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BoyceBlan says... December 25, 2009 at 5:37 p.m.
If it does not matter what race they are, why do we have hate crime laws? He was chosen because he was white.
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arky05 says... December 25, 2009 at 5:54 p.m.
What a tradedy for this family. A man who has donated his life to help others just snuffed out. Maybe Blanche Lincoln and Mark Prior need to spend more time trying to reduce crime in this state since the Pine Bluff Metro area (Lincolns home area) is #1 in violent crimes in the USA and Little Rock is # 5 in Large Cities. This is a disgrace to this state. May the two who did this rot is hell.
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Tayvl says... December 25, 2009 at 6:34 p.m.
What's the point of reporting a reward offer with no description of the suspects? They were seen committing the crime.
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joan_keaton_yahoo.com says... December 25, 2009 at 6:47 p.m.
dimplesnsuch i dont see a problem using the word black men
it was used as a description only lets not lose sight of
the horrible tragedy here by turning this into something
racial lets all just pray for the majors family
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Sylvester says... December 25, 2009 at 7 p.m.
As a native of North Little Rock, having grown up there and lived there for my first 34 years of my 55 years and worked in LR. I am saddened, embarrassed, and flat out angry over the latest senseless murder in the NLR and LR area. The murder of Salvation Army Maj. Philip Wise on 12/24/09 – Christmas Eve, a man who and the organization he worked for helped probably the very people who in cold blood murdered him (do not be afraid to call it what it really was). What a way to give him and the Salvation Army thanks for their help as well as the people who donated money, food, clothing etc.
I am angry with the thugs who perpetrate the crimes – murders, robberies, rapes etc. The death penalty needs to be changed to public hangings on the Court House steps at high noon on a set Saturday. This will start to make an impression on some want-a-be’s and a start to clean up the crime. Some people believe this would be bad for society and would not help. I beg to differ. For the Criminal they will be out of society, not to escape, be pardoned, or for citizen jurors to give light sentences that allow the Criminal back out in the public to murder, beat up, rape, or rob again.
I’m angry at the Local and State politicians for not passing laws with stiffer penalties, for pardoning Criminals, at Judge’s who allow technicalities for the criminal and gives them light sentences. I’m angry with NLR Mayor Patrick Hayes (a lawyer) and the City Council, LR Mayor Mark Stodola (a lawyer and former prosecutor) and Board of Directors and the LR City Manager Bruce Moore and his assistants who all gloss over the crime problem (never wanting to admit LR and NLR have a crime problem) and really never cracks down on crime.
Ultimately, I am angry with the Citizens of NLR, LR and the rest of Pulaski County for putting up with the crime, not holding the politicians and judges accountable for not fixing the problem; for not voting the politicians and judges out of office who are not fixing the problem. Mayor Hayes has won election and re-election six times (he has been in office now 21 years and has 3 more years to go). When will the people in NLR wake up and hold the Mayor accountable to get real tough on crime.
The last tough politician on crime was Pulaski County Sheriff Tommy Robinson, remember he is the guy who stuck a shotgun in the lens of TV cameras and stated he would have his deputies blow away the next person to rob a convenience store, and guess what robberies at convenience stores went down.
As I told an assistant city manager in LR a year ago, LR and NLR will not grow with good paying employers and jobs until Pulaski County gets safer. The Asst City Manager was in total denial.
Wake up folks, demand that murder, rape, and robberies will no longer be tolerated, and demand that the politicians clean it up now not later.
Stanley Pollard
Rowlett, TX
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OnMainStreet says... December 25, 2009 at 7:01 p.m.
"criminality comes in all colors", "ignorance comes in all colors", "This killing has nothing to do with race" "It doesn’t matter what race you are", ect., ect.
These comments have become the mandatory PC statements whenever there is an interracial crime of black on white, which is much more common than the reverse. "This violent crime has nothing to do with race", along with the media always describing the a black on white violent crime as "an attempted robbery gone bad."
Can anyone recall the media reporting black on white violence as a hate crime, and without posters like the above insisting it had nothing to do with race??
Do these same 'no hate crime here'...'I know what the killers were thinking'... 'color-blind' posters chime in with these same opinions when a violent crime is white on black? I've never seen them.
Remember: When blacks attack whites, it's NEVER about race. When whites attack blacks it's ALWAYS about race. Let's all get with the Politically Correct Program.
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dimplesnsuch says... December 25, 2009 at 8:12 p.m.
To: michaellrar --
Quit watching O'Reily and listening to Limbaugh...there is no such code in the black community about "not turning people in or snitching"...that nonsense is based on prison culture and as usual adopted by this generation as being cool. Sure the media will show black kids talking about no snitching but it's the same in the trailer park/hispanic n'borhoods.
You really think all black people live by unlawful/unethical/immoral conduct and behavior. If the assailants were white...would you still have the same rage and theory that prompted you to post. No, you wouldn't. Black people don't want killers in their neighborhood no more than you do. I want these guys caught too and trust me they will.
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rememberthealamo says... December 25, 2009 at 8:53 p.m.
To: dimplesnsuch
Murder is murder. I would be just as enraged if these two savages killed one of our black community leaders. Rehabilitation for these thugs ain't happening. They need to be permanently removed from the face of the earth. As for my statement about the code in the black community, I stand by my statement. I have worked with this population in various capacities for 25 plus years. I always feel for the victims and their families regardless of their race or socioeconomic background.
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