[michigander]

Councilman Davis, Suspect Killed in City Hall Shooting

By Dan Janison, Curtis L. Taylor, Bryan Virasami and Ellen Yan
Staff Writers

July 23, 2003, 6:12 PM EDT

A political opponent gunned down City Councilman James Davis in the balcony of the City Council chamber today before being fatally shot himself by a police officer attending the City Hall meeting, the mayor said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, looking shaken, told a news conference a few hours after the 2 p.m. shootings sparked panic and chaos in the city's corridors of power that it appeared Davis was killed in a dispute with the gunman, identified as Othniel Askew, a relatively little known candidate in a three-way race for Davis' Brooklyn council seat.

Bloomberg said Davis and Askew arrived at City Hall together at 1:45 p.m., entering through the west gate. As an elected official, Davis did not have to pass through the metal detector and since Askew was with Davis, he apparently also entered City Hall without being checked for weapons.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Askew, 31, who was dressed in a blue suit, was seen "repeatedly firing shots" at Davis with a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson silver gun. The officer in the galley below fired six shots at Askew, who died later at NYU Downtown Hospital with multiple gun shot wounds.

Pandemonium broke out in the chambers as the shots fired out.

"We had just completed the ceremonials and I heard something like a firecracker, I turned around and looked and I saw a slim tall guy up in the balcony with a silver gun," Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) said. "He was brandishing the gun and when I heard the shots I hit the deck, I laid down there and played like I was dead. I heard about eight shots and people started running but I didn't move until I was told to."

SNIP

Photos: Shooting At City Hall

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So was this MAN a socialist liberal D,rat or what? This has the distict feel of the Pim Fortuyn assasination.

[AppyPappy]

, I turned around and looked and I saw a slim tall guy

A tall slim Hispanic named Askew

[hellinahandcart]

Well, he was assassinated all right, but it doesn't remind me of Fortuyn in any way.

I just saw the interview clip with Charles Barron repeated, and yes I know Barron's a madman, but if he's telling the truth it seems like Askew was seriously mentally ill.

Barron said that Davis had brought Askew over to introduce him. Barron went to shake his hand and was rewarded with a look so intense it made him draw back ("I was like, 'whoa'"). Davis shrugged it off, said it was no big deal, don't worry, "the guy's military but he'll calm down soon". As Davis and Askew were leaving he said to Barron, "By the way, this guy used to be against me, now he's with me." Apparently Askew had decided to withdraw his name from the race and join Davis' campaign staff instead. That's why he was there as Davis' guest.

Strangely enough, it's now come out that Askew filed a complaint with the FBI (!) a few hours before the shooting, claiming Davis was harassing him. The FBI turned the report over to the NYPD this afternoon, after they heard about the shooting. And that's all we know.

But it sounds like Askew and Davis knew each other all too well, as opposed to Fortuyn and the vegan.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn) said. "He was brandishing the gun and when I heard the shots I hit the deck, I laid down there and played like I was dead. I heard about eight shots and people started running but I didn't move until I was told to."

Great mentality for an elected representative < /s>

[GovernmentShrinker]

Anybody else notice the mysterious disappearance of earlier reports that Davis had pulled a gun of his own, and either shot or attempted to shoot Askew? Knowing how the press likes to censor reports of defensive gun use, I suspect it isn't because the report turned out not be correct. More likely the press can't bear to report that Davis the "anti-violence" crusader packed heat and was prepared to use it in self defense.