The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, St, Louis

A suburban city council meeting was transformed into a scene of carnage Thursday when an enraged gunman burst in and shot seven people, five fatally, police said.

He managed to kill two police officers and three city employees before police shot him dead, St Louis County Police spokeswoman Tracy Panus told AFP.

The man, who had a history of disturbing council meetings with off-point complaints about persecution by officials, rushed into the council chambers just as members were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at around 7 pm (0100 GMT), witnesses said. "He came from the back of the room," said Janet McNichols, a St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter who was covering the meeting in Kirkwood.

"He kept something about, 'Shoot the mayor' and he just walked around shooting anybody he could."

The shooter first targeted a policeman in the meeting, said McNichols, who looked up to see officer Tom Ballman shot in the face. He then shot Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, who was also hit in the head, she said. "After that, I was on my stomach under the chairs," she said. "I laid on my stomach waiting to get shot. Oh God, it was a horror."

McNichols recognized the man, identified as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, as a frequent presence at city council where he often directed angry words at Yost and the mayor.

The mayor, Mike Swoboda, was also shot, as was council member Michael Lynch, McNichols said.

Police would not release the names of the victims or their conditions but the St. Louis Post Dispatch confirmed that one of the dead was city council woman Connie Karr.