Northwest Arkansas Delegation In Washington During Recent Shooting

Sunday, October 6, 2013

SILOAM SPRINGS — Mayor John Turner and Wayne Mays, Chamber of Commerce president, narrowly missed witnessing the shooting on Capitol Hill that made national news Thursday.

Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn., was shot to death in her car by Washington police outside the Hart Senate Office Building after leading a chase down Constitution Avenue. She initially tried to get past White House barricades in her vehicle then led officers toward the Capitol.

A 1-year-old child inside her car was unhurt.

Turner and Mays were in the Hart building visiting with Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., minutes before Carey was shot outside. They were on an annual trip to Washington with mayors and chamber of commerce executives from Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville to meet with legislators about issues affecting Northwest Arkansas.

Mays was the first to leave the meeting with Boozman to catch a flight from Reagan National Airport back to Northwest Arkansas. He asked Senate staffers for advice on the quickest way to get out of the building and catch a cab to the airport. They told him, exit on the Constitution Avenue side of the building.

Mays said he was able to catch a cab on Constitution Avenue almost immediately. The shooting happened sometime during the 15 minutes it took him to reach the airport. By the time he arrived, the incident was already on television, he said.

On Friday morning, Mays pointed to a photo of the shooting on the front of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. While he couldn’t say he recognized the background of the image, Mays said, “it was just about where I went out the door of the Hart building.”

Turner left Boozman’s office with the other local officials a few minutes after Mays. They exited from the opposite side of the Hart building. In the 10 minutes it took them to walk to their hotel, news of the shooting was playing on a television in the hotel lobby.

“If we waited another 10 minutes we probably would have been locked down in the Senate Building,” he said.

Workers inside the Hart building were ordered to shelter in place by locking office doors and staying away from windows. The lockdown lasted about 45 minutes.

Mays said he initially was concerned about the Northwest Arkansas delegation he left at Boozman’s office. He called them and found they were safely at their hotel.

Overall Mays and Turner said their trip to Washington went very well.

They met with 3rd District Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and 4th District Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Dardenelle. They also met with members of the House Appropriations Committee staff and the House Judiciary Committee, Turner said.

Legislators from outside Arkansas sat in on some of the meetings and they commented it’s uncommon for a group of cities to come together and applauded the local leaders for working together, Turner said.

“It has a very positive impact on legislators,” Mays said of the trip.