N.Y. City Hall Shootings Leave 2 Dead

A gunman who managed to bring a weapon into City Hall opened fire inside City Council chambers Wednesday afternoon, killing a councilman who crusaded against urban violence. A plainclothes police officer shot and killed the assailant, police sources said.

The shooter was a political opponent of the councilman, and had accompanied him into the building, a police source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The gunman’s ties to the councilman apparently allowed him to bypass security, the source told The Associated Press.

“Obviously, there was a breakdown someplace,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was in his office at the time of the attack and unharmed.

Brooklyn Councilman James Davis, a former police officer and outspoken presence on the council, died after being shot twice in the chest, a city official told the AP, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The gunman, Othniel Askew, 31, died a short time later at a hospital, according to another police source. The two mortally wounded men were found lying side by side in the balcony overlooking the chambers.

Davis, who was 41 and black, joined the police department in 1993, 10 years after he was beaten by two white officers, according to his Web site.

In 1991, Davis founded “Love Yourself Stop the Violence,” a not-for-profit organization dedicated to stopping violence in urban America. He was elected in 2001, and was a minister.

The killer was sitting in the balcony near Davis when he suddenly shot the councilman, police sources said. The security officer, who was on the floor of the chamber, shot up at the gunman, striking him five times, according to the sources.

At least a dozen shots echoed across the second floor of City Hall, sending people diving for cover beneath their desks as the rotunda filled with screams.

“It was so loud you couldn’t hear the direction,” said City Council photographer Dan Luhmann. “At first, it was absolute stillness. And then people rushed out and ducked under their desks and it was chaotic.”

The shooter was one of about 100 people on the balcony inside the second-floor council chambers when the gunfire erupted after 2 p.m, according to eyewitnesses.

Security had been stepped up at City Hall since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In addition to the installation of metal detectors, a uniformed police officer is posted at the gate.

Employees, reporters with current press passes and police officers are not required to pass through metal detectors.

Police officers, including some in riot gear, swarmed nearby streets and the plaza in front of the building once the shooting stopped. The entrances and exits to the building were sealed, and subways going into the City Hall station and nearby stations were shut down for about an hour. The Brooklyn Bridge was also shut down briefly.

Sen. Hillary Clinton called the death of Davis, a man who devoted himself to law enforcement and stopping violence, “a tragic, terrible irony.”

Davis’ brother, Geoffrey, emerged from the hospital around 4:45 p.m.

“The system killed my brother,” Davis said. “They knew that he would fight. We’re going to keep fighting and do the right thing.”

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Associated Press writers Tom Hays and Michael Weissenstein contributed to this story.

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On the Net:

City Council: http://www.council.nyc.ny.us/

Davis Web site: http://www.jedavis-stopviolence.org/meta2.html