February 08, 2008
Murders At Suburban St. Louis City Council Meeting
KIRKWOOD, Missouri (CNN) --
A gunman killed five people and wounded two Thursday night at a police station and City Council meeting in suburban St. Louis before officers shot and killed him, police said. Two police officers were among the dead, said Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for the 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 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.
Wow. He's been a problem for a while. I wish they had banned him from coming to city council meetings.
Posted by anthony at February 8, 2008 08:51 AM | TrackBackAnthony,
I live only a few blocks away, and am downtown at least a few times a week. Please pray that our church (Green Tree)would be involved in this healing process.
And for a police department that size... these are the 2nd and 3rd officers killed in the line of duty in a few short years... Truly tragic.
Posted by: Brad at February 8, 2008 09:33 AMi hope this isn't too soon to say...but:
another killing in a victim zone. How're the carry laws in the lou?
Posted by: shawn at February 8, 2008 10:13 AMWhen I heard about this while driving to work today and heard his mother speak, I got the impression that he felt he'd been the recipient of a number of "driving while black" tickets. I hope I'm wrong--one does not wish to speak evil of men so brutally murdered--but I also hope that this tragedy gets someone who does know the answer to take action.
Posted by: Bike Bubba at February 8, 2008 10:19 AMShawn,
There are concealed carry laws in st. louis, but it would not have done a lick of good in this case. Cops were there, two were killed. It's just not something that could have been prevented. The first shot was fired a block away, when he shot the first officer in the back.
Bike,
Yeah, his mother and brother (especially) said that he was unfairly targeted for something like $18,000 in fines and ticketing.... I imagine the details will clear up as things get sorted out. The neighborhood he lived in is pretty much the black sheep in Kirkwood (no pun intended), but I have no idea to what extent efforts have been made to reconcile that.
Posted by: Brad at February 8, 2008 11:57 AMRegarding the "no guns zone" thing, I'm with Brad. It's possible that a few armed citizens could have taken him down after only 2 or 3 deaths, but reality is that he did an incredibly difficult feat in shooting two victims in the head.
Thank God that's difficult.
Listen to the reports, too. There are some real heroes that took on the perp despite apparently being undarmed. Praise God for them, too.
I listened to his brother,too. I don't know what side to take here, but that's just plain scary that his brother is all but justifying the crime. Maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong, but either way, it's scary.
Posted by: Bike Bubba at February 8, 2008 01:09 PMI know that trying to find the right words to describe one's feelings is tough after such a horrific event, but what I heard so much of last night from many residents in Kirkwood is that "this is not supposed to happen HERE"..."we are good people and this is a good community".
What is really being said behind those comments? It sounds to me like what is being said is that there is a better breed of person in the Kirkwood area. It sounds to me like other areas contain "bad people" where stuff like this should happen because the people in certain other communities are not of the same caliber.
Apparently socioeconomic status and choice of community is an indicator of how "good" a person is. According to one person, "if this can happen in Kirkwood, this can happen anywhere." Okay.
Posted by: Stephen at February 8, 2008 01:52 PM"What is really being said behind those comments?"
I think you are looking too far into those comments. Whether that is the case or not, these people are just expressing that there was some degree of safety or feeling of safety in the community. Kirkwood is a good community, and good people live here, but we don't have a monopoly on either.
What we, and the Kirkwood community, needs to keep in mind is that safety is an illusion in a fallen world. While I'm surprised this happened here, I'm not shocked. I know the law enforcement community well, and anyone with real intent and means can do something like this.
Posted by: Brad at February 8, 2008 02:44 PMHis Mom and brother are losers too. Give me a break, i dont feel one ounce of sympathy for that killer/ degenerate . Please, 18 grand!!!! His poor soul must have been so misguided to think that this was a racial thing. Maybe a personal thing, but not a racial thing *(not that it doesnt happen at all or frequently or didnt happen a few times 4 this cat). Maybe you get fined for sloppy biz practices, maybe you get unfairly targeted for beign black, but if it happened 150 times, why wouldnt you A) Call the FBI, B) freaking move! I mean seriously if i knew the "world" was out to get me I would move out of that world. :)
Also, for all the conspiracy theorist out there, you would have to get the entire city force (police and code/permit enforcement) in on a gig to get some no name guy that someone "doesnt like" Plus a coward who shoots people in the head or in the back has totally lost it... there is no, "I am gonna pay them back" thinking (regardless of what he was yelling), its pure mania by this time. So tragic, so sad, and I do feel for this guy when he was young and how he could have gone so wrong and become so hateful and vengeful and murderous. i can see killing 1 person (we all have wanted to at 1 time or the other) but the way in which he did it almost sounds like he was possessed.