The Associated Press Feb 8
KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- A gunman stormed a city council meeting Thursday night, killing two police officers and three other people before law enforcers fatally shot him, authorities said. The man's gunfire injured the mayor, a newspaper reported. The victims at the meeting in suburban St. Louis were killed after the gunman rushed the council chambers and began firing as he yelled "Shoot the mayor," according to St. Louis County Police spokeswoman Tracy Panus.Janet McNichols, a reporter covering the meeting for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, told the newspaper that the 7 p.m. meeting with about 30 people had just started when the shooter rushed in and opened fire with at least one weapon. He started yelling about shooting the mayor while walking around and firing, hitting police Officer Tom Ballman in the head, she said.McNichols identified the gunman as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, a man she knows from covering the council. Thornton had previously disrupted meetings, she told the Post-Dispatch.Mary Linehares, a teacher who lives about four blocks from City Hall and who walked down to the scene with her husband, described the town as quiet and eclectic."It's like a small town in St. Louis," Linehares told The Associated Press. "You can call it Mayberry."
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