A gunman in the public gallery of New York City Hall?s council chamber shot and killed a politician dedicated to stamping out gun violence, striking in the middle of a council meeting. Officials said the gunman himself later died of bullet wounds. Radio reports said a security officer had shot him. The officials said the assailant pulled out a gun on the balcony of the second floor City Hall chamber, one of the most tightly guarded buildings in America?s most populous city, and killed councilman James Davis, 41. ?This is a terrible attack not just on two people but it is an attack on democracy,? Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. ?It is not terrorism. It appeared to be a random act.?

Bloomberg was in his ground floor office at the time of the shooting, but he was unharmed. The businessman-turned-politician became mayor in January 2002, just months after the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks that killed about 3,000 people and destroyed the World Trade Center blocks from City Hall in lower Manhattan.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. of Queens told NY1 TV that Davis, a black politician from Brooklyn and retired New York police officer, had campaigned to stop violence in black neighbourhoods. ?How could this have happened at City Hall? You tell me that,? Davis?s brother, Jeffrey Davis said to reporters. Council members described chaos inside the chamber. ?I heard a loud boom and 20 to 30 shots fired. It was a machinegun type of shot. Afterwards it looked like a war zone.?

Paul Thomasch