Though not exactly involving election law, today's biggest political
story is probably the shooting of a New York City Council Member. My older
son works for a member of the City Council and was in the Council chamber
when the shooting occurred. In case any of you are interested, at the
bottom of this is a message I sent to family members this morning assuring
them that my son was safe and giving some details, and above that a message
from my son giving additional details.
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ Best,
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ Daniel Lowenstein
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ UCLA Law School
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ 405 Hilgard
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
ΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚΚ 310-825-5148
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Lowenstein [mailto:aseijilowenstein@hotmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2003 3:59 PM
To: lowenstein@law.ucla.edu; nnlowenstein@hotmail.com; cyagi@msn.com;
crisisrn@cruzio.com; ryagi@mail.cruzio.com; sylowenstein@yahoo.com;
llowenstein@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Aaron and Today's Shooting
As noted, I am fine. You may have heard that a Council Member named James
Davis was killed by a man who appears to have been his political rival.
That man was subsequently killed by police. Unbelievably, all of this took
place in the middle of the City Council Chambers, just before the beginning
of a meeting of the full City Council, which was attended by about 200
people. I happened to be in a position to see the shooting take place, or
rather looked up and saw the shooter standing up in plain view on the
mezzanine, firing repeatedly at somebody. I ran out of the room and
downstairs. I made a statement to the police and then located my intern.
This was his first day at City Hall, and I had literally just finished
showing him around; I had left him sitting off to the side just seconds
before this happened with instructions to check out what was going on.
No one is sure how this guy got a gun through security, which contrary to
what some have said is pretty tight around City Hall. It has been
speculated that Davis and he arrived together and that Davis himself may
have helped him skirt the metal detector. And no one knows why this
happened.
I didn't know Council Member Davis terribly well. He was a bit
unpredictable - not the most effective elected official, perhaps. But he
was usually on the right side of things, and he was always very nice to me.
I feel horrible for his friends and family, and I will miss him too.
Best wishes to everyone.
Aaron
From: "Lowenstein, Daniel" <lowenstein@law.ucla.edu>
To: "'Nathan Lowenstein'" <nnlowenstein@hotmail.com>, "Chiyoko Yagi
(cyagi@msn.com)" <cyagi@msn.com>, "Gayle Yagi (crisisrn@cruzio.com)"
<crisisrn@cruzio.com>, "Randy Yagi (ryagi@mail.cruzio.com)"
<ryagi@mail.cruzio.com>, "'Sharon Lowenstein'" <sylowenstein@yahoo.com>,
"'Linda Lowenstein'" <llowenstein@earthlink.net>
CC: "Aaron Lowenstein (Aaron Lowenstein
[aseijilowenstein@hotmail.com])"
<aseijilowenstein@hotmail.com>
Subject: Aaron and Today's Shooting
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 11:49:18 -0700
Aaron left me a phone message, and I then had a short conversation
with him. As you may hear on the news, there was a shooting today in
the New York City Council. Aaron is safe and unharmed.
Aaron said he was in the Council chamber when he heard two shots. He
looked up, and someone in the gallery upstairs appeared to be shooting
at someone else in the gallery. At that point in the narrative, he had
to take
another call, so that is about all I know about it now.
When Aaron was speaking to me, he was outside the building, with
about
150 people. Apparently an intern had just started in his office today,
and the intern was also in the chamber. Aaron saw him leaving the
chamber through another door, and the intern is apparently still in the
building. There is no reason to think the intern has been harmed, but
Aaron is naturally concerned about that. He didn't say where Phil
Reed, his boss,
was, but I assume he is also unharmed.
I hope I am getting these details accurately. To repeat, the most
important thing for us is that he is safe and unharmed. As you would
expect, he seemed perfectly calm and collected.
Best,
Daniel Lowenstein
UCLA Law School
405 Hilgard
Los Angeles, California 90095-1476
310-825-5148
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