Reporter Shot As Gunman Slays Five Near St. Louis

By: E&P Staff and The Associated Press A gunman opened fire at a city council meeting in this St. Louis suburb Thursday night, hitting the mayor and several city officials, a newspaper reported. A total of five people, including the gunman now lie dead. A reporter was also struck.

Police shot the gunman, who had hit Kirkwood Mayor Mike Swoboda, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had a reporter at the meeting.

Also shot were a police officer, council members Michael H.T. Lynch and Connie Karr, and Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, said the reporter, Janet McNichols.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the dead included Councilwoman Connie Karr, Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, and police officers Tom Ballman and William Biggs.

Mayor Swoboda was in critical condition, and Suburban Journals newspaper reporter Todd Smith was in satisfactory condition, St. John's Mercy Hospital spokesman Bill McShane told The Associated Press.

The killer was identified as Charles Thornton, who had been arrested twice for disorderly conduct at council meetings in recent years.

The Post-Dispatch late Thursday reported the following:

"Six people, including two Kirkwood police officers and the gunman, were killed tonight at Kirkwood City Hall, a St. Louis County police spokeswoman said about 9:25 p.m. Two others were wounded.

"Officer Tracy Panus said the man approached City Hall and shot one officer outside, then entered the building and shot and killed another officer. 'He shot three other people who were attending the council meeting. They also are deceased,' she said. 'One of the members attending the the board meeting was transported to an area hospital.'

"Dave Bundy, the editorial director for the Suburban Journals, said that one of the newspaper's reporters, Todd Smith, was injured in the attack. 'We don't know if it was a ricochet or what, but it hit him in the hand and shattered a bone or two,' said Bundy, who spoke with Smith in the St. Johns' emergency room.

"As medics were removing him from the scene, Bundy said, Smith called his editor and asked that a replacement be sent to city hall to continue reporting the story."

The victims were taken to St. John's Mercy Hospital, but Kirkwood police told The Associated Press no one was available to provide information. St. Louis County police did not return several calls.

The reporter said the 7 p.m. meeting had just started when the gunman rushed into the council chambers yelling and opened 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.

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

About 30 people were in the council chambers, the reporter said.

Dozens of emergency vehicles were on the scene, and an area of several blocks was cordoned off along a busy north-south corridor around City Hall.

UPDATE: "The only way that I can put it in a context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people that were of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life," Thornton told KMOV.

"And he had spoke on it as best he could in the courts and they denied him all access to the rights of protection, and therefore he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue."