Police Visit Radio Talk Show Caller

ARNOLD, Mo. (CN) - A 60-year-old man may face charges for allegedly making a threat during a radio call-in show in which he said he had no problem with the Kirkwood City Hall shooting rampage of 2008.

Arnold police arrested the man after being notified of his comments from representatives of the McGraw Milhaven show, a popular radio talk show in the St. Louis area on KTRS 550 AM.

The man called the show last Wednesday to discuss St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke's apparent noncommittal attitude toward keeping the team in St. Louis.

The caller allegedly identified himself by using his first and last name and then criticized the City of Arnold for its snow removal and its sewer system.

Toward the end of the conversation, Milhaven and the man were discussing Kroenke's comments about accusations that Kroenke had taken money, or "jack," out of the market.

The discussion ended with the man saying, "I ain't gonna say nothin', but the only thing I could put into it other than jack is lead, like the dude in Kirkwood. I don't blame him a bit for what he did," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Feb. 7, 2007 shooting rampage at Kirkwood City Hall left seven people dead, including the shooter, Charles "Cookie" Thornton.

Arnold police have released the caller pending charges, which could come this week.

Milhaven said it was the first time in his 17 years in radio that was he faced with a scenario involving a possible threat.

"We decided to err on the side of caution because God forbid if something were to happen and we wouldn't have alerted anyone, we would have felt awful," Milhaven told the Post-Dispatch. "We didn't want to overreact, but we didn't want to under react."

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