Officials mourn Kirkwood, Mo., shooting victims
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt has ordered the state’s Highway Patrol to assist police in Kirkwood, Mo., where a gunman killed two police officers, two council members and the public works director at a Thursday night council meeting. Also, Washington-based National League of Cities (NLC) President Cynthia McCollum released a statement calling the victims, and all local officials, “unsung heroes.”
Kirkwood resident Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton, who had a long-standing feud with the council over tickets issued against his business, opened fire in the meeting Thursday night. Killed were police Officers Tom Ballman and William Biggs, Council Members Michael Lynch and Connie Karr, and Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, according to an Associated Press report. Mayor Mike Soboda was critically injured in the attack, and a local reporter also was injured.
Blunt called the shootings “a senseless and horrific crime at an open government meeting.” “I join Missourians tonight in praying for the victims, their families and friends, and everyone in the community of Kirkwood,” Blunt said in a statement.
McCollum said Lynch and Karr were very active on NLC councils and committees, as is Soboda. “We are deeply saddened by the senseless tragedy that occurred in Kirkwood yesterday,” she said. “Local officials are often the unsung heroes of our communities, yet daily they put themselves on the front lines to ensure the quality of life in our cities and towns.”