Atlanta, Ga. 2/8/2008 11:26:33 PM
A disgruntled resident stormed a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri Thursday night and opened fire, killing five people before being fatally shot by police officers.
Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton reportedly killed one police officer outside the chambers before entering the meeting and shouting “Shoot the mayor.” He then unloaded several rounds that killed another police officer and three city officials and left several injured, among them Mayor Mike Swoboda.
Thornton had been upset with a decision in a federal lawsuit in which he alleged the city council had violated his constitutional rights after having him arrested multiple times for disrupting meetings over the past few years. His charges had been dismissed just ten days ago after a St. Louis judge ruled that “any restrictions on Thornton's speech were reasonable, viewpoint neutral, and served important governmental interests.”
Gerald Thornton, brother of Charles, spoke to KMOX shortly after the shooting spree and said “He has (spoken) on it as best he could in the courts, and they denied all rights to the access of protection and he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue.”
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