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ells9824

Active Member
Bold Member!
There is basically no information on this other than Mayor Swoboda and council members were hit, the gunman was killed by police. (I lied,there is a full article now)

This is fairly local to me and not of much interest to others BUT-an aging shock jock was bitching on the radio about how he was going to take an AK 47 to the Ameren UE building and start picking people off because he's tired of their shoddy service and lost power during the Super Bowl. He was a dumbass and brought race into it, and has since been suspended for at least 2 weeks.

I sincerely hope this looney toon didn't take offense to his suspension and start picking off his own personal pet peeves.

JC Suspension info-including audio
http://tinyurl.com/ys8xkz

City Council shootings
http://tinyurl.com/yodglx

A correspondent for the Post-Dispatch who was attending said the 7 p.m. meeting had just started when the man rushed into the council chambers yelling and began opening fire with at least one weapon. She identified the man as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton.

"He came from the back of the room," said Janet McNichols, the correspondent. "He kept yelling ‘shoot the mayor’ and he just walked around shooting anybody he could."

THIS IS NUTS
 
Okay this guy is all over the legal system. He owes(owed?) the State of Missouri $20,000 large from 2000. Division of employment keeps adding to it. I'm too dumb to know what its about though.

He later filed
2003 Filed a Writ of Mandamus (denied)
2004 Sued the City of Kirkwood
2005 Filed Writ of Habeas Corpus AND another Writ of Mandamus
1/2007 Filed for a restraining order against the City of Kirkwood.
3/2007 Kirkwood sued HIM, that hasn't gone to trial yet

If I'm not mistaken, aren't those things to get things taken off your record?

Update:
Now they have confirmed SIX people dead including 2 police officers.

Witnesses are saying this guy had come into meetings before and refused to leave, had to be removed by the police twice.

Some guy being interviewed just said "the council persons who were killed were great people" This is unconfirmed, but him saying persons makes me think the woman alderman was one of the other dead.

So if we go with the 6
2 cops
1 gunman
1 or more council members.
 
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http://tinyurl.com/2kysrt

Federal court rejects council critic's First Amendment claims

By David L. Hudson Jr.
First Amendment scholar
02.07.08 (Todays date,so now we have motive)

A federal judge in Missouri has rejected the First Amendment claims of a man removed from Kirkwood City Council meetings for “repetitive, personal, virulent attacks” against council members.

Charles Lee Thornton had sued the city of Kirkwood after he was arrested twice (and later convicted) for disorderly conduct at two council meetings in 2006.

In May 2006, Thornton had the opportunity to speak during the public-comment portion of a council meeting that addressed the expansion of two businesses — a funeral home and a senior living facility. During the time reserved to discuss the funeral home, Thornton rose to speak about what he alleged was personal harassment of him by city officials, not the expansion of the business. He displayed a large poster with a picture of a donkey and made intemperate remarks about the mayor. Thornton then warned the funeral home owner that the city had a “plantation-mentality” and “jackass-like qualities.”

Thornton engaged in similar conduct after the presentation about the senior living center. He said the mayor was “sitting there looking stupid.” The mayor eventually ordered Thornton to leave the podium and called the police. When the police came to the podium, Thornton sat on the floor and refused to leave. He was arrested and later convicted of disorderly conduct. He has appealed his conviction to a state appeals court.

Similar events occurred at a June 2006 City Council meeting. During the public-comment portion, Thornton was allowed to speak, at which point he began: “Jackass, jackass, jackass … .” Eventually the mayor asked the police to remove Thornton, who again sat on the floor. Once again he was arrested and convicted of disorderly conduct.

Rest at link above
 
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Press Conference from Kirkwood Police

First officer shot was outside, next went inside and killed the next officer, also shot 3 people attending the meeting who were all killed.

Total shot 7, 5 killed, gunman killed. They are not confirming which, if any, of the council members are dead.
 
His brother was just on the news

He said: Doesn't matter what I think, he's gone. All I can tell you is he went to war tonight, against the people who he felt were causing him strife. He just went to war.

http://tinyurl.com/2y8vdk

My opinion on this is starting to change, not that its ever okay to kill 5 people and commit suicide by cop....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mayor Mike Swoboda is the one in critical condition.(confirmed)
There is one more with a hand injury Todd Smith<-, reporter of Suburban Journals
3 city officials are deceased.
-Ken Yost, public works
-Michael Lynch, Councilman
- Connie Karr
2 Kirkwood police officers are deceased.
-Tom Ballman
- Sgt.William Biggs
~~~~~~~~~~~
From different stories and "nuances" from people interviewed on the street, I believe these are the victims. The only thing confirmed is that mayor is in critical condition.
 
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On the one hand its good to see such passion in local politics. There's a well-storm of re-enfranchisement coming, I heard a handful of 18-24 year olds even voted on Super Tuesday...,well they showed up late Wednesday afternoon planning a prank involving getting Buchanan on the ticket,..but I digress.

Updated Overview

I especially like this pertinent detail
Article said:
Down the street from City Hall is the Imo's pizzeria once managed by Michael Devlin, who kidnapped 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 and held him for four years before authorities rescued him in January 2007. Also rescued was Ben Ownby, another teenager Devlin abducted just days before Devlin's arrest.

Those crimes got Devlin life terms on state charges, as well as 170 years behind bars on federal charges that he made pornography.
 
The Kirkwood City Council shooting occurred on Thursday, February 7, 2008, in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri in St. Louis County. A gunman went on a shooting rampage at a public meeting in the city hall, leaving six people dead and two others injured. Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, 52, shot one police officer with a revolver across the side street from city hall and took the officer's handgun before entering city hall.[1] Thornton reached council chambers with these two pistols shortly after the meeting began. There, he shot a police officer, the public works director, two council members, the mayor, and a reporter. In total, the gunman killed five and wounded two others; one of the two wounded victims, the mayor, later died. The gunman was then shot and killed by police.
Long article but informing
 
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