Shooting at a St. Louis suburb (Kirkwood) city council meeting

[nlax2011]

FOXNews.com - Shots Reported at City Council Meeting in St. Louis Suburb - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

KIRKWOOD, Mo. — A gunman opened fire at a city council meeting in this St. Louis suburb Thursday night, hitting several people, including the mayor, a newspaper reported. There was no immediate word on whether anyone was killed.

Police shot the gunman, who had hit Kirkwood Mayor Mike Swoboda, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Kirkwood police told The Associated Press that no one was available to provide any information.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[grady]

The news reported earlier they were having a zoning meeting. Fox news is reporting 2 police officers were killed. The condition of the others is unknown at this time.

[Kevan]

Too bad the building didn't have a "no guns" sign to stop this guy.

[Rotorflyr]

Latest on this is 6 dead (including gunman)...............

The Post-Dispatch reporter said the 7 p.m. meeting had just started when the shooter rushed into the council chambers yelling and began opening fire with at least one weapon. He started yelling "shoot the mayor" while walking around and firing, hitting a police officer first, the reporter said.

[barracudamagoo]

Latest update as of 10:40pm CST: 2 officers dead, 3 city council members dead, mayor is in critical condition, 1 other individual in stable condition. Goblin dead! God bless the family of the fallen officers and the others who have died.

[Miggy]

Amen Barracuda... pity to see good men falling by the actions of a madman.
Was the place a gun free zone?

[morintp]

Wow. My heart goes out to the families of everyone hurt.

[ExactlyMyPoint]

Any word on what the weapon was? Rifle, handgun?

[matiki]

The Latest from Fox Here.

... (sic) A total of seven people were shot, including the mayor and several city officials, before police shot and killed the gunman, though it is unclear which officials are among the dead.

The gunman was identified as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who was attending the meeting.

MyFOXStLouis, citing a local newspaper, reports that Thornton had a history of disruptive activity at council meetings. Thornton, a local contractor and a black man, repeatedly accused the city of racism and discrimination in citing him for unlicensed work, and he even sued the city for civil rights violations but recently lost the suit, the TV station reported.

Thornton first shot a police officer outside the city council chambers before walking inside and opening fire, police said in a brief news conference.

The Post-Dispatch reporter said the 7 p.m. meeting had just started when the shooter rushed into the council chambers yelling and began opening fire with at least one weapon. He started yelling "shoot the mayor" while walking around and firing, hitting a police officer first, the reporter said.

The reporter, Janet McNichols, also said the shooter fired at the city attorney, who tried to fight off the attacker by throwing chairs. The shooter then moved behind desk where the council sits and fired more shots at council members.

About 30 people were in the council chambers at the time of the shooting, the reporter said. (sic)...

[glock27mark]

just heard on local news website about council meeting shooting.
man oh man what a bad week this as been. my prayers go out
to the officers and council members families.

[FN1910]

Were the police officers armed or did the GFZ apply to them also?

[press1280]

Even with a no firearms sign or statute(I'm assuming,because I know of very few courthouses,if any that allow carry) and armed LEO's on and outside the premisis,this guy still got through. If there were no cops there, all 30 people in the room would probably be dead.
This is why "gun free zones," need to be eliminated. Of course,it doesn't mean they would have necessarily stopped this guy cold before he got anyone, but it sure as hell is better than being trapped in a room w/30 other unarmed folks.
On the positive side(like there is one), its good to see someone throwing chairs back instead of the "pig pile" defense taught in schools.

[tns0038]

What a shame. Our prayers to there family.

GFZ just don’t work

When Florida first stated issuing CCL, governmental meetings, and governmental buildings where not gun free zones.

But, at the same time, you could not bring a gun with in 100 yards of a school.

Later Florida changed that if you have a CCL, you can have the gun in your car if you’re dropping off or picking up someone. They also changed it recently that you can carry in state managed property including parks and wildlife management areas.

Hopefully, upon review of the ineffectiveness of GFZ of stopping lawlessness, and BG’s bring in guns, states will do away with GFZ’s .

[cmidkiff]

Too bad the building didn't have a "no guns" sign to stop this guy.

It did, and it doesn't matter anyway, MO law prohibits CCW in governmental meeting locations by statute.

My prayers are with the injured and the families of the deceased.

Just another idiot wanting his 15 minutes. I, for one, will never mention the man's name (or nickname, as the case may be).

There is no way to prevent a law abiding citizen from committing unprecedented acts of violence. Yeah, the guy had mouthed off to the council regularly, but to the best of anyone's knowledge, he had never been known as a violent person. I'm assuming he owned the gun legally, with all the background checks, etc. having been performed. This act demonstrates exactly how useless those federal forms and instant checks are. You are not going to catch a first time criminal before the crime. The best you can do is to be prepared for when the inevitable occurs.

[Kevan]

FWIW, the scumbag's long history of inflicting misery on those unfortunate enough to be near him is here. Also important is the fact that plenty of people in his neighborhood defend the murders and call him a hero. This simply tells us (again!) that perverse people with perverse minds are not nearly so rare as we wish to think, and this behavior can happen "anytime, anywhere."