The Kirkwood City Hall meeting on February 7, 2008, turned into a scene of mass violence when Charles Lee Cookie Thornton entered the council chambers armed and opened fire. About 30 people were present. Thornton killed two police officers, Tom Ballman and William Biggs; two council members, Connie Karr and Michael H.T. Lynch; and the public works director, Kenneth Yost. He also shot Mayor Michael Emil Mike Swoboda, a 69-year-old, who suffered gunshot wounds to his head and jaw and was hospitalized and operated on several times.

Mayor Swoboda was released to rehabilitation after months of treatment but later suffered a fall and ongoing complications. He also battled cancer, and on September 6, 2008, he died in hospice, just shy of his 70th birthday. Thornton, 52, who had a protracted dispute with city government and had recently lost a federal lawsuit, was shot and killed at the scene; there were no subsequent arrests or trials.

Are there witnesses or family members who can add details about the mayor’s recovery period or the events inside the council chambers?