Tom Schweich, one of the top Republican candidates for governor of Missouri and the state Auditor, died Thursday from a gunshot wound in what police there are describing as an "apparent suicide," according to The Associated Press.
Schweich's wife was in another room and called 911 after hearing the shot. Minutes before that call, Schweich had apparently called various media outlets, including The AP and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, to inform them he wanted to go public with accusations that the chairman of the Missouri Republican Party had made anti-Semitic comments about him and told people he was Jewish.
The Post-Dispatch reports that Schweich wasn't actually Jewish, but Episcopalian, but had a Jewish grandfather.
The GOP chairman denied the accusations of anti-Semitism after hearing the news. From the article:
Hancock said he did not have a “specific recollection of telling anybody that Schweich was Jewish,” but he may have used it as a description, similar to saying, “I’m Presbyterian and somebody else is Catholic.” Hancock said at the time, he thought Schweich was Jewish.
[Via Gawker]
