Arkansas' own 1 of slain

Arkansans sent out messages of condolence Friday for the family of Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, a Marine with ties to Russellville who was killed in a shooting rampage Thursday at military facilities in Tennessee.

State Sen. Greg Standridge, R-Russellville, said he spoke Friday with Wyatt's mother, Deborah Boen of Atkins.

Wyatt graduated from Russellville High School in 1998, Standridge said. He played tuba in the high school band, and he was an Eagle Scout -- an "accomplished young man."

"All the stuff came on the news yesterday, and I was watching all of it just feeling so bad for the families of the Marines," Standridge said. "And then come to find out he was one of our own, from our own area. It's just a sad, sad deal."

Dave Morris graduated from Russellville High School alongside Wyatt, whom he described as "extremely friendly," "really happy" and "a good man."

"My most vivid memory of him is that he was always smiling and laughing," Morris said. "That picture floating around of him in his Marine dress uniform and that smile, I remember that exact smile. It was very surreal. I would have never in a million years thought that's how things would end up for him."

Some of the approximately 400 people in Wyatt's graduating class were in contact after the news broke Friday, sharing memories and expressing their sorrow. They're planning to raise money for his wife and children, Morris said.

"The universal consensus is everyone is just devastated and feels so sad for his family," he said. "We want them to know that his classmates from high school thought he was a great guy and certainly deserved better than this. He deserves to have his memory honored as much as possible."

Boen told The Courier newspaper in Russellville that her son was stationed at the Marine Corps Reserve Center in Chattanooga, Tenn., where she said he oversaw military funerals and reserve artillery training.

"He called the Marines his brothers," Boen told the Russellville newspaper. "He was so proud of being a Marine."

The Courier reported that one of Wyatt's cousins who is a Navy chaplain will officiate at Wyatt's funeral.

Details about the service were unavailable late Friday.

"We've always believed in the sacrifice of our service and have been quite a military family," Boen told the newspaper.

Standridge said the Boens were on the way to Hixson, Tenn., on Friday to be with Wyatt's wife, Lorri, and their two children.

Wyatt's Facebook page indicates that he has been married since Dec. 21, 2004. On Friday, Wyatt's sister, Dawne Wyatt Trent of Conway, posted a Facebook picture of her brother in military fatigues and holding two small children waving flags.

The Marine Corps officially identified Wyatt on Friday as one of four Marines killed when an attacker unleashed a barrage of gunfire at a military recruiting center and a Navy and Marine reserve center in Chattanooga.

Federal authorities identified the gunman as Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, of Hixon. Officials said they are investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism.

Wyatt and the other Marines were killed at the reserve center, and a Navy sailor with them was seriously wounded. The Marine Corps identified the others killed as Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan of Springfield, Mass.; Sgt. Carson Holmquist of Polk, Wis.; and Lance Cpl. Squire Wells of Cobb, Ga.

Wyatt entered the military in 2004 in Burke County, N.C., the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. He deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2007 and 2008 and to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010. He had earned more than a dozen awards and decorations, the newspaper said.

Looking at a yearbook Friday afternoon, Russellville School District Superintendent Randall Williams confirmed that David Wyatt graduated in 1998.

Cindy Williams, a physical education teacher at Russellville Junior High School, said she taught Wyatt when he was in the eighth and ninth grades. On Friday, Williams said over and over that Wyatt "was such a great kid. He got along with everybody.

"When I found out, I hated it," Williams said. "That's one of our kids."

Throughout Friday, statements were issued by Russellville Mayor Randy Horton, U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, U.S. Rep. French Hill and Sen. Tom Cotton.

Horton said he was "terribly saddened" to learn that one of those slain Thursday was from the Russellville community.

Westerman said Wyatt would be remembered as a hero and that his death "is a tragedy for his family, the people of Arkansas, and the United States."

Cotton called on Arkansans to "come together and honor his memory, today and every day."

Referring to an attack in 2009 that left one U.S. Army private dead at a Little Rock military recruitment office, Hill said, "Central Arkansans know all too well the horrors of having the battlefield brought to our own backyards.

"Yesterday's attack hits even closer to home with the news that one of the victims was a native Arkansan," he said.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson ordered the state flag to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Monday "as a mark of respect and as an expression of public sorrow for the four Marines killed."

"Our hearts break at the news of another senseless act of violence and terror, this time out of Chattanooga," Hutchinson said in an emailed statement. "Our prayers go out to all the families of the victims, especially the family of [Wyatt] of Russellville, one of Arkansas's own."

Information for this article was contributed from Russellville by Mara Klecker of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.