Five people were fatally shot and two others wounded on Thursday evening by a man who opened fire as a City Council meeting began in Kirkwood, a generally placid suburb of St Louis, the authorities there said. The gunman was shot to death by police.

The violence began around 7 pm, when the man approached a Kirkwood police officer in a parking lot near the police station and shot and killed the officer, a spokeswoman for the St Louis County police, Tracy Panus, said late Thursday.

Moments later, the man appeared inside City Hall, a short walk from the Police Department, shot and killed another police officer and then fatally shot three city officials who were inside the council meeting, officials said.

Two others at the meeting were also shot and wounded, one critically, Ms Panus said.

Witnesses told of chaotic scene in Kirkwood, a middle class community of about 27,000 people with a main street lined with shops and restaurants and many grand homes. As officers from departments from suburbs throughout the region swarmed into Kirkwood, many residents expressed disbelief and anger that such a thing could happen in there.

The authorities would not identify the dead late Thursday.

According to The St Louis Post-Dispatch, which had a correspondent at the meeting, the Pledge of Allegiance had just been recited and Mayor Mike Swoboda was starting the meeting when the gunman rushed inside the council chambers and opened fire with at least one weapon. Mr Swoboda was injured.

Some witnesses said they had heard at least 15 gunshots, maybe more. About 30 people were believed to be at the meeting. Some tried to fight off the gunman by throwing chairs.

The authorities did not identify the gunman, but The Post-Dispatch reporter and other witnesses identified him as Charles Lee Thornton, an independent contractor known as Cookie. Thornton was said to have often come to council meetings and to have had repeated disagreements with Kirkwood officials.

“He came from the back of the room,” Janet McNichols, the correspondent, told The Post-Dispatch. “He kept saying something about, ‘Shoot the mayor,’ and he just walked around shooting anybody he could.”