UPDATE: Thornton left a suicide note, brother says
The man who opened fire at a council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo., Thursday night left a suicide note, accoridng to the brother of gunman Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton.
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A reporter covering the meeting for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Thornton entered the City Council chambers, yelling "Shoot the mayor!" and opening fire.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that among the dead were Councilwoman Connie Karr, Public Works Director Kenneth Yost and police officers Tom Ballman and Briggs. Two others, including Mayor Mike Swoboda, were injured.He then fired at the city attorney, who tried to fight off the attacker by throwing chairs, she said. The gunman then moved behind a desk where the council sits and fired at council members.
The Post-Dispatch reported that late last month, a federal judge in St. Louis dismissed a lawsuit in which Thornton, representing himself, claimed Kirkwood officials violated his free speech rights by prohibiting him from speaking out at meetings."My brother went to war tonight with the people of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life," said Gerald Thornton, the gunman's brother. "And he ended it."
Thornton had twice been convicted of disorderly conduct for disrupting meetings in 2006 with off-point complaints about persecution by officials.Friends and relatives said Thornton had a longstanding feud with city officials.
At earlier meetings, he said he'd received 150 tickets against his business.A friend said the city had ticketed Thornton's demolition and asphalt business for parking his commercial vehicles in the neighborhood. The friend said Thornton thought he was being singled out because he was black.
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GUNMAN UPSET OVER TICKETS???
KIRKWOOD, Missouri (CNN) -- A St. Louis suburb will recover "but we will never be the same," its deputy mayor said Friday, the day after a gunman killed five people at a City Council meeting before police shot him to death
Witnesses identified the gunman as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, a man who they said regularly disrupted meetings to make complaints.
Kirkwood Deputy Mayor Tim Griffin identified the dead as City Council members Connie Karr and Michael Lynch, Public Works Director Ken Yost and police Sgt. William Biggs and Officer Tom Ballman.
The city's mayor and a newspaper reporter also were shot and were hospitalized, officials said.
Mayor Mike Swoboda was listed in serious condition Friday morning, while Todd Smith of the Suburban Journals was in satisfactory condition, they said.
Police said the shooter had two guns when he entered the City Council chamber Thursday night -- a large-caliber revolver he brought with him and a service weapon he took from Biggs after shooting the police sergeant.
Police have not officially identified the suspect. Thornton's brother earlier had told a TV station his sibling "went to war tonight with the people that were of the government."
In an interview with CNN, Gerald Thornton repeatedly declined to say that his brother had done anything wrong. He said his brother felt his "constitutional protection was not guaranteed," but he refused to explain further or give any detail.
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A friend of Thornton's, Ron Hodges, told The Associated Press the city had ticketed Thornton's demolition and asphalt business for parking his commercial vehicles illegally. Thornton said he had received 150 tickets, Hodges told the AP, and the tickets were "eating at him."
"He felt that as a black contractor he was being singled out," Hodges told the AP. "I guess he thought mentally he had no more recourse. That's not an excuse."
Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for St. Louis County police, said authorities believe the suspect parked his vehicle in a lot outside the police station and City Hall, encountered Biggs and shot him, then took his gun.
He proceeded into the council chambers, where he shot the other people.
A witness told the AP the gunman yelled, "Shoot the mayor!" as he stormed into the room.
"I heard [Thornton] yell something about a gun, and I looked up, and I saw Officer Ballman had been shot in the head," said Janet McNichols, a correspondent with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a video posted on the newspaper's Web site.
"Then I looked right in front of me, and Mr. Yost had been shot in the head too." 
Watch McNichols describe hiding under a chair as bullets flew »
Other Kirkwood officers came to the scene and shot and killed the gunman, Panus said.
She would not comment on specific security procedures at the City Council meeting but said the measures "are something that they followed."
Authorities are working to piece together exactly what happened, she said.
An eyewitness to the shootings said Thornton had disrupted City Council meetings frequently in the past.
"He would make inappropriate noises, heehawing like a donkey. He would make derogatory comments towards the director of public works, the city attorney and the mayor," Alan Hopefl said Friday. "None of it seemed to make any sense as far as him trying to make a point, as far as why he was really there and what his major complaints were." Watch Hopefl tell how he escaped the shooting scene »
Gerald Thornton told CNN affiliate KMOV-TV in St. Louis that his brother had serious grievances with the city government.
"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." Watch the gunman's brother talk about a motive for the shooting »
Thornton sued the city of Kirkwood after he was arrested twice for disorderly conduct at two council meetings in 2006. He later was convicted, according to the First Amendment Center, a group that says it works to preserve First Amendment freedoms.
According to a Thursday article written by the First Amendment Center -- before the shooting -- Thornton asked to speak during public-comment portions of 2006 meetings on specific topics but instead discussed his alleged harassment by city officials.
In his lawsuit, Thornton said his First Amendment rights had been violated. But in a January 28 ruling, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said that the public-comment portion of a meeting could be reserved for certain groups and topics of discussion.
Bill Reineke, a builder and acquaintance of Thornton's for 15 years, said he sensed a change in him starting three months ago.
"He seemed to feel lately that things were going wrong," Reineke said. "He would run into City Hall once in a while during meetings, and he would talk about the plantation mentality of the mayor and board."
Reineke said Thornton had begun to hold grudges.
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Five People Shot @ City Council Meeting in MO
(CNN) -- A gunman killed five people and wounded two at a police station and City Council meeting in suburban St. Louis on Thursday night before officers shot and killed him, police said.
Charles Lee Thornton(above) was identified by witnesses as the gunman who opened fire at a City Council meeting.
Two of those killed were police officers, said Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for St. Louis County police.
"We have what we believe to be our suspect," Panus said. "There's no reason for the Kirkwood residents to feel unsafe at this point."
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 Mike Swoboda was wounded and 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 shootings began shortly after 7 p.m. just outside the city hall in Kirkwood, Missouri, when a man approached a police officer in the parking lot of the Kirkwood police station and fatally shot him, Panus said. The officer died at the scene. Watch emergency vehicles swarm the scene »
The suspect then went into the City Council chambers, she said, and killed a second police officer, then fatally shot three city officials who were attending the meeting, Panus said.
Kirkwood police officers returned fire, Panus said, killing the suspect.
Police did not identify the suspect or victims.
A correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Janet McNichols, who was in the City Council meeting when the shooting took place, identified the gunman as Charles Lee Thornton, the newspaper reported.
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Thornton sued the city of Kirkwood after he was arrested twice for disorderly conduct at two council meetings in 2006. He was later convicted, according to the First Amendment Center, a group that says it works to preserve First Amendment freedoms.
According to a Thursday article written by the center -- before the shooting -- Thornton asked to speak during public-comment portions of 2006 meetings on specific topics, but instead spoke on what he alleged was harassment of him by city officials.
In the lawsuit, Thornton said his First Amendment rights had been violated. However, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said in a January 28 ruling that the public-comment portion of a meeting could be reserved for certain groups and topics of discussion.
Rather than discussing the subject at hand, Perry wrote, "Thornton engaged in personal attacks against the mayor, Kirkwood and the city council. ... Because Thornton does not have a First Amendment right to engage in irrelevant debate and to voice repetitive, personal, virulent attacks against Kirkwood and its city officials during the comment portion of a city council public hearing, his claim fails as a matter of law," the ruling said, according to the First Amendment Center.
Thornton's brother, Gerald, told CNN affiliate KMOV that his brother had serious grievances with the city government.
"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."
Bill Reineke, a builder and acquaintance of Thornton's for 15 years, said he sensed a change in him starting three months ago.
"He seemed to feel lately that things were going wrong," Reineke said. "He would run into city hall once in a while during meetings and he would talk about the plantation mentality of the mayor and board."
Reineke said Thornton had begun to hold grudges.
"I don't know what made him go off -- what made him twist -- but it's just a darn shame for everyone concerned," he said.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt responded to news of the shooting from Jefferson City.
"Tonight our fellow Missourians in the city of Kirkwood were terrorized by a senseless and horrific crime at an open government meeting." he said.
"I join Missourians tonight in praying for the victims, their families and friends, and everyone in the community of Kirkwood."
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What words can be expressed to the loved ones of those who were killed by Thornton?? Somehow "sorry" just doesn't do it.
If a person had such deep rooted issues with a city...MOVE!
Was it his pride? Believing that if he moved, Kirkwood, MO would somehow have won??
So instead of moving-you take the lives of others.
Sadness.
I will never accept the words of others, when they want to speak on how crazy Bagdhad, Iraq and other middle eastern countries are...when the great ole U.S. of A..IS CHOCKFUL OF CUCKOO 4 COCOA PUFF CRITTERS AS WELL!
What's the difference between suicide bombers and murder suicides at MALLS, SCHOOLS, HOMES, WORK PLACES, CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS?
There is no difference.
They're both insane acts, by people who felt that was their only answer.
We are in a state of emegency...and as long as U.S.A continues in its downward spiral, we'll always hear of people such as Thornton.
I pray that God brings peace to loved ones of the victims, as well as the family of Thornton.
You Betta Recognize-this is no joke.
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