Arthur Hastings Wise Put To Death For Aiken Murders
By http://www.wagt.com/about/bios/news/876987.html
He killed
four people eight years ago. Friday, Arthur Hastings Wise was executed for
his 1997 Phelon Plant crimes.Wise was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. and authorities say he left no written statement.
Lieutenant Michael Frank was working at his desk on September 15, 1997, when he heard the call on his radio.
He was one of the first officers to respond to the R.E. Phelon plant.
"I remember when I got out of the car," Lt. Frank said, "seeing this wave of people running from the building in my direction."
Confused and terrified employees ran for cover telling police what they heard, or saw.
"Within a few minutes of arriving," Frank said, "we knew we had an active shooter in the building."
It was Arthur Wise--fired from his job, looking for, and getting, revenge.
Wise first shot a security guard at the front gate, Lt. Stan Vance. Vance would survive the attack.
He then entered the plant through the front door and made his way to the Human Resources office. There he shot and killed HR Director Charles Griffith.
Wise continued walking through the plant, randomly shooting at employees. He found David Moore and Leonard Filyaw and killed them.
Wise later shot Sheryl Wood. Her dead body was found in the rear parking lot. Police think she may have been shot inside the plant and died trying to go for help.
Jerry Corley and John Mucha were also shot by Wise, but they survived.
Officers surrounded the building, while SWAT teams cleared the inside. After finding the dead bodies, they found Wise lying on the floor of an upstairs office. He had ingested a chemical in an attempt to take his own life.
Four years later, Wise was sentenced to death.
Friday, that sentence will be fulfilled with Wise's death--helping a community find some closure, but leaving families forever devastated.
"I don't think the families involved will ever totally get over what happened," said Aiken County Sheriff, Michael Hunt, who responded to the shooting as an officer with the Aiken Public Safety Department.
"I just don't think they'll ever find closure," he added.
For others who were there and had to witness the shooting's effects on a community, Friday's execution closes the book on one of Aiken County's saddest stories.
"A jury heard the evidence," Lt Frank concluded, "and a judge ruled, handing down what I think is the appropriate sentence."
Arthur Hastings Wise is scheduled to die at 6pm Friday in Columbia, SC.
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