Breaking news - Shots fired in NY City Hall

[Rainband]

Very sad indeed!!! He was a very important member of society and deticated his life to help stop violence I hope they get to the bottom of this. "The security measures here will need to be reviewed" He can say that again!! :o

[GalvestonDuck]

From WNBC.com in New York:

NEW YORK -- A City Council member who crusaded against violence was gunned down during a routine meeting Wednesday afternoon, and a plainclothes police officer in turn shot and killed the assailant on a second-floor balcony inside City Hall, police sources said.

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.

His killer died a short time later at New York University Downtown Medical Center, according to police sources. The two mortally wounded men were found lying side by side in the balcony overlooking the chambers, where eyewitnesses said the gunman opened fire.

The shooter was a political opponent of Davis, and had accompanied the councilman into the building before the shooting, a police source said. The gunman's ties to the councilman apparently allowed him to bypass security, the source said.

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.

The killer was sitting in the balcony near Davis when he suddenly shot the councilman, police sources said. The security officer, who was on the floor of the chamber, shot up at the gunman, striking him five times, the sources said.

As gunfire echoed inside the landmark lower Manhattan building, people dove for cover and the rotunda was filled with screams. Police evacuated the building following the shooting.

[cycloneye]

Now the major of New York said that all the people that enters city hall will have to pass all the check points even he from now on is going to pass that proccess.

[Lindaloo]

Well IMO none of them should have been exempt from going through the same security that everyone else has to endure even at the airports. I doubt that they can bypass security at the airports because they are a Mayor or a city councilman. This was a tragedy that did not have to happen.

[Stephanie]

I can't believe that they didn't have metal detectors at the entrance! I believe that Philadelphia's City Hall has been outfitted with them.

I stand corrected...They have security checkpoints, but no metal detectors.