New York Councilman James Davis Killed in Shooting

Wednesday, June 23, 2003

(9:31 PM ET)

Boomberg

``How could this happen at City Hall?''

Boomberg
New York City Councilman James Davis was killed when a political opponent opened fire during a meeting at City Hall, officials said. The gunman was shot dead by a police officer.

Davis, 41, was shot on a balcony above the council floor shortly after 2 p.m., said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was at his desk on the other side of City Hall when the gunfire broke out.

Bloomberg identified the shooter as Othniel Boaz Askew, 31, who had filed papers to run against Davis, 41, in a Democratic primary this fall. Askew entered City Hall as Davis's guest and was allowed to bypass screening devices used to check visitors for guns -- a routine practice, the mayor said.

``We have films of them walking in together,'' Bloomberg said at a news conference. The mayor said neither he nor council members would be exempt from security screening in the future. ``Tragically, we live in a world where you have to balance security with the people's right to come and go,'' he said.

Davis and Askew arrived at City Hall about 1:44 p.m., said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

Both men were part of the political scene in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, a neighborhood of landmark town houses and low-income housing projects that sit about a 15-minute subway ride from City Hall. Davis co-founded ``Love Yourself, Stop The Violence,'' a nonprofit organization working against crime.

* Went to FBI

* Shooting Starts

* Officer a Hero

* ‘Get Down!’

(More: Boomberg.com)
2003 © Boomberg.

Dan