NATION : Former N.Y. State Senator Shot to Death While Campaigning
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NEW YORK — Vander Beatty, a former state senator and congressional candidate from Brooklyn, was shot in the head and killed today while campaigning for a Democratic Party position.
Beatty was shot twice in the head at his office at 1:22 p.m. and died at 1:45 p.m. at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, police said.
Police were searching for a man who was reported to have fled the scene after the shooting.
Beatty, 49, an imposing 6-foot-tall politician, was once a Brooklyn political powerhouse and leading black activist, but was brought down by an avalanche of scandal.
He left his state Senate post in 1982 to make an ill-fated bid to run for the U.S. House seat held by longtime Rep. Shirley Chisholm.
In an attempt to force a new election after his defeat by Major Owens, he and others forged voter registration cards and he was later convicted of forgery and election fraud stemming from the scheme.
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