The Journal

Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Kirkwood

Media Credit: Max Gersh Gerald Thornton takes a phone interview outside of Kirkwood City Hall Feb. 8. Thornton is the brother of Charles "Cookie" Thornton, who entered Kirkwood City Hall Feb. 7 and killed two officers and three more city officials before he was killed by police officers.

Though nearly a week old, the brutal story of Charles "Cookie" Thornton's shooting spree remains as fresh as the new paint in the bloodied council chamber of Kirkwood City Hall.

Six people are dead - five murdered by Thornton - and a city lies divided and in mourning. Last week's shootings at Kirkwood City Hall have sparked fierce debate about race relations and poverty in a city with a tumultuous history in both.

For some, the dead at City Hall represent the latest tragedy in a drama that has been playing out since the largely white Kirkwood annexed its black neighbor Meacham Park in the early 1990s. Tensions are high as the city buries two police officers - three slain in as many years at the hands of black men from a marginalized neighborhood.

Yet others have found hope among the latest spate of funerals - another chance for the community, so long divided, to find solace together.

One week after the quintuple murder rocked this suburb to its roots, Kirkwood finds itself precariously situated between the tipping point and the turning point.
Driven to kill

In the wake of the shooting, citizens of Kirkwood have struggled to put reason to the seemingly senseless violence. Thornton's friends and neighbors in the predominately black Meacham Park neighborhood of Kirkwood have characterized him as a jovial, sometimes eccentric man who stood up for and gave back to his community.

"Even when he was picketing, he still had a smile on his face," said Share Thomas, a business administration major at St. Louis Community College, Forest Park, and a 12-year resident of Meacham Park.

Thornton was constantly protesting Kirkwood and the City Council because he felt the city was picking on him. In the last year, Thornton attended five City Council meetings, according to meeting minutes. By the time of his death, he owed the city several thousand dollars in parking tickets and other fines. Thorton's problems were compounded by monetary difficulties at home and legal entanglements in court.

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