Two Kirkwood Mo Police Officers Killed

[Mack the Hack]

KIRKWOOD, Mo. - A man known for confrontations with city officials killed five people at a city council meeting in suburban St. Louis Thursday night before he was shot to death by police.

Two Kirkwood police officers and three people attending the meeting were killed by the gunman, who rushed the council chambers and began firing as he yelled "Shoot the mayor!" according to St. Louis County Police spokesman Tracy Panus.

Two others were wounded, including Mayor Mike Swoboda. Two council members reportedly were shot, but it was not clear if they had been killed

[all4114all]

I live near Kirkwood (within an hour) and when it came on the news, my husband dropped everything. He thought it might be our community because of current controversy. Whew.

[Crosstimbers Okie]

There's a lot of trouble between the small municipal governments and citizens here in Missouri. I've never seen anything like it. Personally, I think that existing funding mechanisms are inadequate supports for city budgets, so these city councils & managers pressure the police departments into becoming downright predatory in trying to raise revenue, which really pisses people off.

Here in Missouri for instance, all of the speed traps I'm aware of are operated by small cities, not counties or the state. And, I know for a fact that some municipal cops have no qualms about artificially inflating detected speeds and lying about the presence of witnesses.

According to the KC Star, which is a daily tabloid; the shooter was a construction contractor whom had received many municipal fines for things ranging from illegal parking to working without a license. Apparently he believed that he was being singled out for special treatment. Whether he was or not, who knows. But he obviously felt that he was being treated unfairly.

I hear a lot of these kinds of stories coming out of the small municipalities in the St. Louis area. Honestly, I can hardly wait to un-ass this area and return to Civilization. People here are downright scary. And add to that some of the worst drivers I've ever seen in action are on the road in eastern Jackson County, MO.

I'll get off of my soapbox now.