Posted on 07/23/2003 11:19:01 AM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Reporters diving for cover at City Hall.
Shots are coming from second floor.
JAMES DAVIS IRKS VELMANETTE: Councilman James Davis went bonkers when he saw that his name was omitted from the latest list of helpful phone numbers that state Senator Velmanette Montgomery distributes to her constituents annually. Davis called Montgomery and began ranting on her answering machine, only to be cut off before he finished. So he called back and ranted some more until being disconnected. Still not satisfied, he called a third time until he'd finished his soliloquy.
Davis demanded Montgomery publicly apologize for the omission, threatened to go to the press if she didn't, and vowed to run against her and oppose candidates she supported in future elections. Davis obviously picked up some tips on diplomacy from Ariel Sharon during his recent visit to Israel. Montgomery, for her part, was none too amused by Davis's threats. She said his name was "inadvertently left off the form," but, "I'm not apologizing because he was very discourteous in the way he approached me about it." Davis, who's never been close with Montgomery, surely feels the omission was anything but inadvertent. We'll be scouring the black market for copies of the tape from Montgomery's answering machine and hope to quote some excerpts, along with an explanation from Davis, in a future column.
There is no moral equivalence between terrorism and democracy. Now, Bloomberg may deny making that statement if it's expedient for him to do so. I saw it at about 3:30 p.m. on Fox.
Shots Fired At New York City Hall, Councilman Killed
UPDATED: 3:50 p.m. EDT July 23, 2003
NEW YORK -- A gunman opened fire inside City Council chambers Wednesday afternoon during a routine meeting, killing a councilman and wounding another person on a second-floor balcony.
Brooklyn Councilman James Davis, a former police officer, died after being shot twice in the chest, a city official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Three separate law enforcement sources also confirmed Davis' death to NewsChannel 4.
Davis, an outspoken presence on the council, joined the police department in 1983 after he was allegedly beaten by two white officers.
In 1991, Davis, who is black, started "Love Yourself Stop the Violence," a not-for-profit organization founded to address growing urban violence.
At least a dozen shots echoed across the second floor of the landmark lower Manhattan building, with people diving for cover one floor below as the hall's rotunda filled with screams. Police evacuated the building following the shooting.
"It was so loud you couldn't hear the direction," said City Council photographer Dan Luhmann. "At first, it was absolute stillness. And then people rushed out and ducked under their desks and it was chaotic."
The shooter was one of about 100 people in the balcony inside the second-floor council chambers when the gunfire began after 2 p.m, according to eyewitnesses.
"I looked up, and I saw someone shooting downward," said City Council member David Yassky. A security guard returned fire, according to Yassky.
Police sought a man in a blue suit in connection with the shooting, which continued for about three minutes.
Security, particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was amped up at City Hall. Metal detectors were installed at either end of the plaza outside the building, along with metal barricades.
The two victims were rushed from the front of the building on stretchers, loaded into ambulances and brought to New York University Downtown Hospital with gunshot wounds, said hospital spokeswoman Vanessa Warner.
An emergency worker said the two victims were lying side by side in the balcony, both with bullet wounds to the chest.
Police officers, including some in riot gear, were seen running across the plaza in front of the building once the shooting stopped. It was not immediately known if the shooter was captured.
The City Council was holding a meeting on Wednesday, but council member Peter Vallone Jr. said there was nothing controversial on the day's agenda.
The entrances and exits to the building were sealed off, and a stretcher was rushed inside by police in flak jackets.
No sir, it's not an attack on democracy, it's an attack by one man against another.
and it looks as if he may haveIt does not look like he may have. There is absolutely nothing at all to suggest that. Nothing in any report. All there is, is your discomfort with the idea of shooting at a perp when there are others around (and without knowing if there was a clear shot or not).
He issued a taped statement saying: "This is a terrible attack, not just on two people, but this is an attack on democracy. We will not stop until we find who did this.
The mayor said this was not an act of terrorism, but "an attack on all Americans."
This is the quote by the Mayor.
What a maroon he is...
Maybe he meant quarter bag.
Molon Labe!
it would have worked out better for him if he had turned himself into a helicopter.
dep
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