Professor, Grad Student Shot to Death in Apparent Murder-Suicide on Campus
A longtime professor and a graduate student who had been taking classes for 10 years were shot to death Monday at the University of Arkansas in an apparent murder-suicide on the first day of the fall semester, authorities said.
Associate professor John Locke, 67, died in his English department office in Kimpel Hall.
“I heard one gunshot followed by a young man’s voice saying, ‘No, I didn’t do anything,’ ” said Bethany Edstrom, a graduate student who was in a nearby office. “Then I heard a second shot.”
Officers responding to 911 calls from the building said they spoke briefly with a man behind the locked office door, Capt. Brad Bruns said. About five minutes later, another shot rang out. Officers found the two bodies inside.
Bruns identified the other victim as a graduate student in the comparative literature program, the classes Locke taught. He said police didn’t know of a motive or who pulled the trigger.
Colleague Dick Bennett described Locke as a “very mild-tempered man” who had a reputation for helping his graduate students through the program.
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