In the News

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."

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