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Missouri Shooter's Wife Works At St. Petersburg School

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A staff and wire report

Published: February 8, 2008

Updated: 02/08/2008 07:15 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - The wife of the man who opened fire at a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo., is a St. Petersburg middle school principal, local school officials confirmed.

  Maureen Thornton

The shooter, Charles Lee Thornton, is married to Maureen Thornton, who is the principal of John Hopkins Middle School, said school spokeswoman Andrea Zahn.

On Thursday night, Charles "Cookie" Thornton fatally shot a police officer near the police station in Kirkwood, officials said. He then fatally shot a second police officer and three other people at a city council meeting, officials said.

Thornton was killed by police.

Zahn said Maureen Thornton was not at school today There was no one at her St. Petersburg home either.

Charles Thornton was carrying a grudge against city hall and left a suicide note on his bed warning, "The truth will come out in the end," before he went on the shooting spree, his brother told The Associated Press today.

Arthur Thornton, 42, said in an interview at the family's home that he knew his brother was responsible for the killings when he read the one-line note.

"It looks like my brother is going crazy, but he's just trying to get people's attention," Arthur Thornton said, explaining he thought the note reflected his brother's growing frustration with local leaders.

Police have the note, he said.

In January 2007, Maureen and Arthur Thornton borrowed $352,750 to buy the house at 701 Lake Maggiore Blvd S. in St. Petersburg, according to court records. They defaulted by the following August, and a mortgage company filed a foreclosure action in Pinellas Circuit Court against them last month.

Charles Lee Thornton's name was not on the mortgage.

The mortgage was an adjustable rate mortgage and the interest rate last year was 7.95 percent with monthly payments of $2,439.49, the court documents say.

The debt grew to $377,977.68. Last month, Maureen Thornton told a process server who was delivering her a summons and copy of the suit that she was married to Charles Lee Thornton and that he lives in St. Louis.

Arthur Thornton and his wife live in St. Louis.

Maureen Thornton, 49, told the process server she did not have her brother-in-law's address.

As principal of John Hopkins, she was making $74,369.91 a year, personnel records show. She started working as a teacher at John Hopkins in 2004, worked as an assistant principal at Safety Harbor Middle School, and was named principal of John Hopkins in 2005, personnel records show. Before joining the Pinellas school system, she had 19 years of experience, eight of them in the same school district where her husband went on his rampage

In her personnel file is her husband's telephone number.

"Praise the Lord, you just reached Cookie's voice pager,'' the recorded message says before suggesting the caller leave a brief message. It concludes: "And remember. Have a fantastic day and I wish you much peace."

Friends and relatives said Charles Thornton had a long-standing feud with the city, and he had lost a federal free-speech lawsuit against the St. Louis suburb just 10 days earlier. At earlier meetings, he said he had received 150 tickets against his business.

The shooting victims were identified today as Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, Officer Tom Ballman, Officer William Biggs and council members Michael H.T. Lynch and Connie Karr. Flowers and balloons were placed outside city hall today in their honor.

The city's mayor, Mike Swoboda, was in critical at an intensive-care unit, St. John's Mercy Medical Center spokeswoman Lynne Beck said. Another victim, Suburban Journals newspaper reporter Todd Smith, was in satisfactory condition, Beck said.

"This is such an incredible shock to all of us. It's a tragedy of untold magnitude," Tim Griffin, Kirkwood's deputy mayor, said at a news conference. "The business of the city will continue, and we will recover, but we will never be the same."

This story contains information from the Associated Press. Tampa Tribune reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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