Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: News

Charles "Cookie" Thorton (right) attended what was then Northeast Missouri State University in the 1970s, drawing the attention of other students because of his outstanding record in indoor and outdoor track. He is pictured with his first cousin, Ezra Thompson, in this photo from the 1979 edition of the Echo yearbook. Thorton killed five attendees at Thursday's Kirkwood, Mo., City Council meeting.

For his first three years at what was then Northeast Missouri State University, Charles "Cookie" Thornton wore a bow tie, tuxedo shirt and plaid jacket for his yearbook photo. He also wore what appears to be a signature ear-to-ear grin in photo after photo in the Echo yearbook.

Thornton, the gunman behind Thursday night's shooting in Kirkwood, Mo., seemed to have been a well-adjusted student during his time at the University that would eventually become Truman. But on Thursday, Thornton opened fire at a City Council meeting, ultimately murdering five people and wounding two others. He was killed by police officers at the meeting.

Among the victims are Kirkwood City Council members Connie Karr and Mike Lynch, the city's Public Works Director Ken Yost, and police officers Sergeant Bill Biggs and Officer Tom Ballman. Mayor Mike Swoboda and Todd Smith, a reporter from the Suburban Journals were seriously injured, according to an article from The Kansas City Star.

Thornton had been removed by officers from City Council meetings on several other occasions because of disruptive behavior. A lawsuit he brought in January 2007 against the city of Kirkwood on First Amendment grounds was dismissed by a federal judge in St. Louis on Jan. 28, according to The Kansas City Star and to federal court documents. A state case Thornton filed against the city was dismissed in October 2007, and an unknown party was granted a protective order against Thornton in August 2007, which he appealed, also according to court documents.

Thornton, who had been a business administration major, was an All-American inducted into the University's Hall of Fame in 1994 for his outstanding college career in indoor and outdoor track. He set school records for both the indoor and outdoor high jump in 1979, at 7-feet-2.5-inches and 7-feet-0.5-inches, respectively. He beat a previous school record for indoor high jump, that he also set, from 1977. His family lives in Kirkwood.

He was dubbed "Cookie" by his mother, who told a 1977 Echo yearbook reporter that she gave him the nickname because he was "very sweet."

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