Mourners gather at Kirkwood church for shooter's funeral

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- Racial tensions that apparently fueled a gunman's hatred were cast aside Thursday as hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Charles "Cookie" Thornton.

The ceremony came one week after Thornton stormed the Kirkwood City Council chambers -- a venue where he previously cursed city leaders and accused them of having a "plantation mentality" -- killing two police officers and three city officials before being gunned down by police.

Thornton was black. His victims were white. But congregants at the funeral said the tragedy should not enflame racial divisions.

"It's a time for healing, and we should have more community events dedicated to racial harmony," said 88-year-old Kirkwood resident Ray Laramie.

Family, friends and relatives struggled during the two-hour funeral to understand what made Thornton snap, and a half-dozen ministers called for healing and forgiveness.

The funeral was hosted by the predominantly white Kirkwood United Methodist Church because Thornton's smaller church would not have accommodated the overflow crowd.

"Hope is necessary work," said United Methodist Rev. David Bennett. Raw emotions from the shooting "can lead to anger and vengeance, but that is not who we are," he said.

Thornton's family wept and waved their arms in the church's front row throughout the service. Pastors who knew the 52-year-old small-business owner said the man who committed the shootings Feb. 7 was not the man they knew.

"I used to call him Mr. Kirkwood," said the Rev. John W. Sykes of Grace Community Bible Church. "Sometimes life hits you with things that are almost too much to bear."

Echoing the thoughts of others, Sykes urged the crowd to look beyond racial tensions in the St. Louis area as they try to heal from the pain that Thornton caused.

"This ain't a color thing," Sykes said. "For if someone were to cut us, we would all bleed the same color."

Sykes' sermon met with thunderous applause and calls of "Amen" from a crowd that filled the pews, aisles and atrium of the church.

Funerals already have been held for Thornton's victims: Councilwoman Connie Karr, Kirkwood police officer William Biggs Jr., officer Tom Ballman, Public Works director Ken Yost, and Councilman Michael H.T. Lynch. Mayor Mike Swoboda was shot twice in the head and remains hospitalized.

Many attendees were Kirkwood residents who knew Thornton as an outsized presence in town. He was a popular high school track star and local contractor who some people thought could have been mayor.

Bennett ended the ceremony by asking the congregants to go forth as ambassadors for tolerance. And he suggested they were always welcome in his church.

"This isn't our house. This is God's house," he said.