William King Biggs Jr. was a 50-year-old sergeant with the Kirkwood Police Department who was shot and killed on February 7, 2008, outside Kirkwood City Hall. Biggs had a long career in law enforcement, including training at the St. Louis Police Academy and graduation from the FBI National Academy, and was a recognizable figure in the suburban community as a husband and father.

That evening Charles Lee Cookie Thornton, described as a frequent, contentious attendee at city meetings who had been removed and arrested in 2006 and had recently lost a federal lawsuit, approached Biggs across the street and, after asking what time the meeting started, shot him in the head. Biggs activated his distress alarm as he lay dying. Thornton then took Biggs’ service weapon, entered the council chamber, and opened fire, killing council members Connie Karr and Michael Lynch and Public Works Director Ken Yost, wounding others and being fatally shot by responding officers.

The shooter was killed at the scene, so there were no arrests or trials; the mayor, Mike Swoboda, survived initially but later died from complications of his injuries. Biggs or remember him from Kirkwood before that night?