It's Times Like These - Shooting At Kirkwood City hall 02.08.08

It was a quiet night like any other in Kirkwood, MO. A small, close community filled with quaint shops and many bustling businesses. We had just been at my niece's middle school watching a basketball game. It was 7 pm., 35 degrees and the Kirkwood city council was sitting down to begin one more zoning meeting. It was a night like any other?.

Except, on this tragic evening, one, 52 year old, disgruntled business man went to "war" as his brother was quoted as saying. He settled a "score" with the governmental group that had added strife to his life and he ended his problem. He also ended the lives of 5 other unsuspecting individuals, including that of 2 local police officers.

5 people who left their families for the evening to help better their community - lost their lives? These individuals had people at home waiting for them to return - Alive. As the news reporters stated, it wasn't as if they were going some place that they expected something violent to happen.

Sadly, this individual felt that he had aired his grievances and no one would listen to him. As an independent contractor, he felt that he was being racially discriminated against and was being targeted for harassment. Yet, his anger, outrage, and negative behavior from 2005 to tonight's tragic ending was disruptive to the Kirkwood City council and on many occasions their meetings and agendas could not be completed as planned because of his actions. He chose to take his fight to Federal court in the form of a law suit. Judge Perry, who presided over his case, said that as a result of his behavior, his rights had not been violated and his suit was dismissed.

Yes, I have to say it is very frustrating when our judicial system doesn't work the way that we want it to. It can cause frustration, anxiety, hurt feelings. This was over 21 parking tickets that were eventually dropped just so Mr Thornton would not attend any more meetings and let the council move on to other business. What else could this board have done? They felt like they had given this citizen what he wanted, they dismissed all charges against him "yet he could not let this go".

I can truly sympathize with Mr Thornton's plight for "justice" in an over burdened system. I do not see this as a white or black issue. Our criminal system often lacks "justice" and more often lacks reason. I too am currently battling the system to get them to prosecute a child molester who assaulted my daughter for over 3 years. This man leaves a trail of 7 other victims. My daughter disclosed 9 months ago. The perpetrator still lives in your neighborhoods, works in your stores traveling all over our state, he may go to your church or spend time with your children. He is a well versed, well liked, well educated and affluent gentleman. He is free to walk around as we pick up the pieces of my 13 year old's life because the system has yet to do anything to get him off of the streets. Right now you will not find his name on any sex offenders list - you will not know to be aware of him. He can strike again at any time. Yes, I know the frustration with our over worked "system".

But?what makes one person go to this extreme? I'm sure this is a question that many will ask themselves repeatedly over the next several days and weeks ahead. Despite that, this is not a gun control issue. I have a house full of guns. I have a conceal carry permit. It is not guns that kill - it is the people holding the gun that kills. To say that gun control in this case would have made a difference is ridiculous. If Mr. Thornton had hit several people with his automobile in the open road, we would not blame the car, we would blame Mr Thornton. Therefore, we also need to place the blame here where it belongs, on Mr Thornton. He had a plan. He killed a police officer in the parking lot before he even entered the building so metal detectors inside would not have stopped his rampage. It may have saved a few of the extra lives but he knew exactly what he wanted to do when he shot that first officer. Should we have metal detectors in all of our city halls across the nation then? Not a bad precautionary measure, we have them here in our city hall, why not others? An ounce of prevention?

Still, would this have stopped a man on a mission and how do things get to this point? With all the anger I have as a parent who couldn't protect her child from a family member, with all the frustration I have with our lack of prosecution against a child molester when our governor says he is going to do everything in his power to protect or children yet he won't take our calls or do anything to back up his claims and multiple speeches to that effect, I do not see a rampage in my future. Maybe against an unsuspecting pillow?.and several outbursts in a counselor's office. What then, makes one person so volatile that he can end the lives of 5 other individuals, change the dynamics of so many family units and a community as a whole while others cope in less destructive ways?

I do have a PhD in Criminology but I haven't spent my life studying human behavior, so I can't answer that. I do agree with Gavin De Becker when he says that we all sing a choir song that could be entitled " Things Like That Don't Happen in This Neighborhood". Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme. We have allowed our denial and our media exposure to become a guaranteed passport into the world of greatness. The lone assailant with a grandiose idea and a handgun has become an icon of our culture. With our denial, we have allowed ourselves to believe that violence and human behavior can not be predicted. Yet, as we take our morning drive on the highway to work, we are constantly predicting human behavior to keep ourselves safe behind the wheel. We expect the thousands of drivers out there in rush hour traffic to behave like we do - yet we are still prepared for and are able to accurately predict those few who might not. In this arena we have a fantastic accuracy in predicting human behavior of those we don't know.

The violence we fear and abhor the most, that which we call random and senseless is actually neither. For attackers like Mr. Thornton, there was most definitely a purpose and a meaning. It's at these times that we want to call the perpetrator a "monster" because when we look at such frightening acts such as his we don't want to think that he is anything like any of us - yet it is finding his humanness - his similarities to you and me- that we could have potentially predicted his violence this tragic evening. If we don't see the similarities, it is easier for us to feel no responsibilities for failing to read signals if there were none to read. Sadly, like in multiple attacks before this one, Mr. Thornton gave many "signals" and "cries for help". Many chose to ignore those signals - hoping the "problem" would just go away on it's own. Millions of people suffer from this same denial which keeps them from taking the actions that could reduce risks.

Neither privilege or fame, money, race or neighborhood we live in will keep violence away. Nobody is untouched. Gavin De Becker is stated as saying "in the last two years alone, more Americans have died from gunshot wounds than were killed during the entire Vietnam War. By contrast , in all of Japan (with a population of 120 million people), the number of young men shot to death in a year is equal to the number killed in New York City in a single busy weekend. By this time tomorrow, 400 more Americans will suffer a shooting injury, and another 1,100 will face a criminal with a gun. Within an hour, another 75 women will be raped." The FBI statistics show that just during the time that I watched the news cast of this horrific bloodshed so "close to home" - a 3 hour period - another 6 people were murdered somewhere in the US and another 491 violent crimes occurred. Leaving 6 more people without spouses, or children without parents or sadly, parents without their children. At what point do we stand up and demand an end to this national violence?

As communities, businesses, churches, organizations, we need to come together and learn how we can "read" and pay attention to the warning signals. How we can be safe in our homes and transitional areas. How we can work as neighbors to protect each other. The police and judicial system can't be expected to take care of us all. We are in charge of our own safety and security. We need to learn to do so.

Maybe, instead of spending so much of our income on fighting wars in other countries, we should spend extra money on improving the "wars" that are raging without our country, communities, and homes (domestic violence). This is a year to vote, use that right to encourage our representatives to help strengthen the U.S. and our police forces that are out there every day putting their lives on the line to help keep us safe.

Author: Kimberly Elliott,MBA,PhD is owner of Executive Defense Technology a corporate safety education company. She is also a National Certified R.A.D. (Rape/Aggression/ Defense) Trainer. For more on self defense classes or products, contact Executive Defense Technology online at http://www.execdeftech.com. When booking your speakers for spring or 2008 conferences / events/ seminars, keep Executive Defense Technology in mind. They deliver high-content, interactive programs that could potentially be a "life saving" experience. You can also find Kimberly Cheryl's new paperback "Are Your Habits Killing You" on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com.