This gets my vote for this week's "keen sense of the obvious" award.
Posted on 07/23/2003 1:27:12 PM PDT by The_Victor
NEW YORK - A gunman opened fire during a meeting inside City Council chambers Wednesday afternoon, killing a city councilman who has crusaded against urban violence and wounding another person.
Police swarmed the lower Manhattan neighborhood searching for the gunman. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was in his office during the shooting and unharmed, ruled out terrorism.
Metal detectors have been installed at either end of the plaza outside the building, along with barricades.
"We do not know how someone got a gun in the building," Bloomberg said. "Obviously, there was a breakdown someplace."
The gunman's motive was unknown, said the mayor, who confirmed that one person was killed. A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Brooklyn Councilman James Davis, a former police officer, was shot twice in the chest and died.
The second victim was not identified.
"It appears to be a random act, but we cannot allow this to go on, ever. This is an attack on all Americans," Bloomberg said.
Davis, 41, an outspoken presence on the council, joined the police department in 1993, 10 years after he was allegedly beaten by two white officers.
In 1991, Davis, who was black and represented Brooklyn, started "Love Yourself Stop the Violence," a not-for-profit organization dedicated to stopping violence in urban America. He was elected in 2001, and was a minister.
At least a dozen shots echoed across the second floor of City Hall, sending people diving for cover beneath their desks as the rotunda filled with screams.
"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 on the balcony inside the second-floor council chambers when the gunfire erupted after 2 p.m, according to eyewitnesses.
Joel Rivera, the council's majority leader, said Davis was in the balcony talking to the shooter when the gunman "pulled out a silver gun, possibly a revolver." Rivera told CNN the shooter may have gotten into City Hall with a Davis staffer.
An emergency worker said the two victims were lying side by side in the balcony, both with bullet wounds to the chest.
Security has been stepped up at City Hall since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In addition to the metal detectors, a uniformed police officer is posted at the gate.
Employees, reporters with current press passes and police officers are not required to pass through metal detectors. It was not immediately clear how the gunman got a weapon inside.
Police were searching for a man in a blue suit in connection with the shooting, which continued for about three minutes.
SPECULATION [Kevin Cherry]
One member of the City Council, interviewed on 880 AM, said that he believes that he saw the gunman with James Davis before the shooting. The member said that Davis introduced him to a man who was going to run against him but now was supporting him. The alleged gunman had a firm handshake and a strange look.
Posted at 04:01 PM
Does anyone else see a disparity here?
This gets my vote for this week's "keen sense of the obvious" award.
already posted here.
Sorry, the original title (when I read the start of the thread) didn't include the news of the City Councilman's death.
A "minister" like Jesse Jackasson or a real minister.
A man in a blue suit in lower Manhattan. That should narrow it down.
For everyone who is concerned about my safety...I survived the attack! Not a scratch on me...
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