The city council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri, on the evening of February 7, 2008, turned deadly when a gunman opened fire in City Hall. Kenneth Yost, 61, the city’s longtime City Engineer and Public Works Director who had served since 1973, was among five people killed that night. About 30 people had been in the chambers when the shooter entered; eyewitnesses said he first shot Kirkwood Police Sergeant William Biggs in a parking lot across from City Hall, then returned inside and fired on those in attendance.

The assailant was identified as Charles Lee Cookie Thornton, 52, a local man with repeated conflicts with the city. Inside the council chambers Police Officer Tom Ballman and council members Connie Karr and Michael H.T. Lynch were also killed; the mayor, Mike Swoboda, and a reporter were wounded. The shooter was shot and killed in an exchange with responding officers.

Yost was remembered as a husband, father, and colleague whose sudden death came amid an attack tied to the shooter’s longstanding grievances with city government. If anyone attended that meeting or has additional information about what happened that night, please share what is known.