2 shot dead in New York council chambers
Associated Press
July 23, 2003
NEW YORK -- A gunman who managed to bring a weapon into City Hall opened fire inside City Council chambers this afternoon, killing a councilman who has crusaded against urban violence. A plainclothes police officer shot and killed the assailant, 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. (snip)
http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/2/060075-2212-093.htmlAnother new one:
(snip) Crown Heights activist killed
A New York City Council member who worked to improve black-Jewish ties was killed in a shooting at New York City Hall. An unknown gunman opened fire from a balcony overlooking the City Council chambers Wednesday, striking James Davis twice in the chest. Davis, 41, an African American and former police officer, had crusaded against urban violence and held an annual memorial for a black boy and a yeshiva student killed in 1991 in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. “As one who knows the work of James Davis, I know what a special soul he is,” said Rabbi Avi Weiss, national president of Amcha-Coalition for Jewish Concerns. Weiss, who was in Jerusalem, said he would pray for Davis at the Western Wall. Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, called Davis’ killing “a tragedy for all New Yorkers. (snip/...)
http://www.jta.org/brknews.asp?id=71097