A man who police say went on a shooting rampage at City Hall in a St. Louis suburb Thursday night had recently lost a lawsuit against the city stemming from disorderly conduct convictions that resulted from his frequent clashes with city officials.
A televised interview with the alleged shooter's brother also seemed to confirm reports that ticketing of his brother's commercial vehicles was at the core of the dispute.
Charles Lee Thornton used two weapons in killing five people and wounding two others at the City Council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri, police said. The first of the five people killed, Police Sergeant William Biggs, was shot outside the building with a large-caliber revolver and then stripped of his weapon, said Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Police Department.
The suspect then carried both guns into the council chamber, where he opened fire at the start of a council session while repeating the phrase, "Shoot the mayor," according to a witness.
The rampage ended when police officers stormed the chamber, shooting and killing Thornton, Panus said. They heard the gunfire from the police department, which is right behind City Hall.
State Representative Rick Stream, a Republican who represents the suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri, where the shooting took place, and knew all the victims as well as the shooter, said, "I just couldn't believe it was Cookie," referring to the nickname for Thornton. "He was such a friendly guy."
But "obviously he had some problems with the city," Stream continued. "For whatever reason, he just snapped."
Thornton appeared to have hit a tipping point 10 days ago, when he lost the free-speech lawsuit with the city, according to The Associated Press. The suit stemmed from two convictions for disorderly conduct resulting from his frequent clashes with officials at City Council meetings.
Gerald Thornton, Thornton's brother, told CNN on Friday that his brother felt that his "constitutional protections" had been violated and no other options were available to him.
"My brother went to war tonight with the government," Gerald Thornton said in an interview with a local television station after the incident. "He decided that he could no longer verbally work it out."
In another interview he said, "this was not a random rampage."
On CNN, Thornton also seemed to confirm the reports that the dispute related to ticketing of his brother's vehicles.
The brother said that he had no advanced warning of the shooting, and he did not know that his brother owned a revolver. A suicide note was left behind, another brother told The AP
Three city officials — Councilwoman Connie Karr, Councilman Mike Lynch and Public Works Director Kenneth Yost — and another police officer, Tom Ballman, were killed. Mayor Mike Swoboda was wounded and remains in critical condition at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Couer, Missouri A local reporter named Todd Smith was also taken there, but was in stable condition.
"We thank the officers who bravely and heroically came to the rescue of those of us in the council chambers," Deputy Mayor Timothy Griffin said this morning. "This is a tragedy of untold magnitude."
Kirkwood was in mourning Friday, with flags flying at half staff at schools and prayer services and vigils planned throughout the day.
One of the vigils was planned for 7 p.m. local time across the street from City Hall, bringing the mourners to the scene of the crime just 24 hours after it occurred. This time, black bunting is to hang over the entrance.
Outside Kirkwood's police department, lilies, roses, daisies and an American flag were laid in remembrance of the two officers killed. The department lost another officer in 2005. The man convicted of the killing that officer was sentenced to death last Friday.
This morning, Police Chief Jack Plummer was resolute, vowing that "we will move past this."
"There's an old phrase that says, you don't get more than you can handle," he said. "That's being tested. But we'll get through it. And we ask your help and your support. Because without that, things will not work out the way they need to."
The violence on Thursday began at about 7 p.m. After shooting the police officer outside and going into the building, Thornton shot and killed another police officer, police said. He then fatally shot the three city officials who were inside the council meeting, and shot and wounded the two others, officials said. Kirkwood is a middle class community of about 27,000 people with a main street lined with shops and restaurants and many grand homes. As officers from departments from suburbs throughout the region swarmed into Kirkwood, many residents expressed disbelief and anger that such a thing could happen there.
According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had a correspondent at the meeting, the Pledge of Allegiance had just been recited and Swoboda, the mayor, was starting the meeting when the gunman rushed inside the council chambers and opened fire. Some witnesses said they heard at least 15 gunshots. About 30 people were believed to be at the meeting, and some tried to fight off the gunman by throwing chairs.
Thornton, an independent contractor, was said to have often come to council meetings and to have had repeated disagreements with Kirkwood officials.
On Thursday, "He came from the back of the room," Janet McNichols, the correspondent, told The Post-Dispatch. "He kept saying something about, 'Shoot the mayor,' and he just walked around shooting anybody he could."
On the newspaper's Web site, McNichols said she had looked up to see a police officer shot in the head, then saw the gunman shooting at a public works official. "After that, I was on my stomach under the chairs," she said. "I laid on my stomach waiting to get shot. Oh, God, it was a horror."
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