Major Philip Wise worked for the Salvation Army for more than 16 years before being gunned down on Christmas Eve at his Little Rock, Arkansas location.  Police say his three children witnessed their father’s murder with their own eyes. I spoke to Sgt. Terry Kuykendall from the North Little Rock police department this afternoon, and he told me Major Wise had just returned to the Salvation Army after bringing bell ringers home.  Major Wise and his three children, ages 4, 6 and 8, parked around back of the building and were walking in when two men tried to rob him in the pouring rain. 

Sgt. Kuykendall says the suspects shot Major Wise, left him for dead in a doorway, and fled on foot.  The children, who were the only first-hand witnesses of this murder, and were questioned immediately after the shooting to get as many details as possible on the killers.  Police will not say if the men were able to get any money, but they do say the suspects were armed with handguns, and were last seen running toward government assisted housing in the area.  This Salvation Army building is an independent site located in a residential neighborhood, there are not many stores with surveillance nearby to capture images of the killers.  Patrol officers are canvassing the neighborhoods, talking to residents, and trying to develop more leads on the suspects.  About 185 officers police nearly 67,000 residents.