Man opens fire at Mo. council meeting

KIRKWOOD, Mo., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A man rushed into the Kirkwood, Mo., City Council meeting Thursday and shot the mayor and several council members before he was shot by police, a report said.

Others may have been shot as well.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had a reporter at the meeting, identified the shooter as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton.

Reporter Janel McNichols said, "He kept yelling 'shoot the mayor' and he just walked around shooting anybody he could," firing first at a police officer. She said the city attorney fended the man off by throwing chairs at him.

The gunman then walked behind the council's curved desk and fired more shots at the members, she said, before police arrived and shot the assailant.

The newspaper said there were no immediate details on the conditions of those shot.