CHICAGO -- Police say Joe Jackson was turned away at least once Friday as he tried to get to the high-rise office of a patent lawyer he had a grudge against. He didn't have an appointment.
When he came back that day, Jackson had attorney Michael R. McKenna's business card in his pocket and a manila envelope in his hand. He got close enough to the security guard to jam a revolver hidden in the envelope into his side.
"This guy's telling him, 'Take me upstairs. Don't say anything,"' Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline said Saturday.
That's how 59-year-old Jackson, also armed with a knife and a hammer, made it to the 38th floor of the Citigroup Center. He chained and locked a law-firm door before going on a 45-minute rampage, killing three people, including McKenna, and wounding a fourth.
Jackson told officers before he was shot that he had been deceived over his invention, a toilet for a truck, Cline said.
SWAT team sharpshooters quickly moved up to the 38th floor offices at 500 West Madison to end the hostage standoff that began in the closing hours of the work week.
The shooting began at about 3:15 p.m. inside the downtown skyscraper and sent people running and snarled the evening commute, as the 42-story office tower is also home to the Ogilvie Transportation Center.
Police said that when officers arrived, Jackson had already reloaded his gun inside the law firm of Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer.
Cline said Jackson's manila envelope also contained a knife and hammer.
After Jackson locked the doors with chains and a padlock he brought with him, Cline said he "grabbed a hostage and he was pointing a gun alternately at the hostage's head and his own head."
Officers entered the law firm through another door in the U-shaped office, and a SWAT officer shot Jackson with a sniper rifle from about 45 yards away. Cline said there was no negotiation.
"There was at least another 25 to 30 people on the floor and I think the Chicago police officers from SWAT saved those people's lives," he said.
McKenna, 58, rented space from the firm.
"We know he went there for Mr. McKenna, then he continued to shoot other people," Cline said.
Also caught in the melee was a partner in the firm, 65-year-old Allen J. Hoover of Wilmette, as well as 78-year old Paul Goodson, a retired schoolteacher who was working part-time for Wood Phillips handling mail and deliveries.
The firm's paralegal, Ruth Zak Leib, was shot in the foot but back recovering at her Oak Park home Saturday.
The situation ended about 4:15 p.m., and minutes later an ambulance carrying a shooting victim that may have been Jackson.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said police did a "tremendous" job handling the situation.
"When police arrived, we're talking about minutes, seconds ... They had to get into the situation immediately," Daley said.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said autopsies showed McKenna and Goodson each had a gunshot wound to the head, and Hoover had a gunshot wound to the neck.
Police said Jackson was wounded in the face and chest, and the medical examiner's office said that he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
The GunmanAs congregants and family members gathered Sunday at New Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, they bowed their heads in prayer and dismay, asking why and how their deacon Jackson could do such a thing.
"It's hurt me because I was so close to Joe, and when this happened on Friday like that, it just tore my heart up completely," said Henry Jackson, the gunman's older brother.
People at services described Jackson, who worked most of his life driving taxis or long-haul trucks, as kind and generous -- very different from the troubled soul he turned into Friday.
Pastor C. Larry Sparks of New Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, presented with a newspaper headline and Jackson's picture said, "That ain't the Joe I know," saying he was "a different guy."
"This guy snapped," Sparks said, adding that what happened Friday it was "totally" out of character.
Sparks said he believes it all began with Jackson's toilet seat invention. Jackson paid a hefty retainer and brought Sparks along to see a lawyer about a patent.
"I went to the initial consultation for retainers fees. I was there for that," adding that the meeting was with McKenna.
Jackson had high expectations the invention would make him rich, but Sparks said somewhere along the way something went wrong. The relationship broke down. The attorney apparently was not returning his calls.
"I think Joe got mad because it was a steel wall he couldn't get past," Sparks said.
Family members told the Chicago Sun-Times on Saturday said they never heard a name of the invention and only saw one blueprint -- something he showed his sons at a funeral more than two years ago.
They said Jackson grew concerned that his attorney wanted the idea for himself and, after not getting phone calls returned, did research on the Internet and found what he believed was evidence the lawyer had patented the idea.
If Jackson did see the name "McKenna" on a toilet-related patent, the Sun-Times reported it may be from the Boston-based Cesari and McKenna firm that has no relation to Michael McKenna. The Boston firm has served as attorney/agent on 18 toilet-related patents, though none that appear too similar to Jackson's idea.
A McKenna relative told a family friend Saturday that the gunman had come to McKenna a few years back, trying to get something patented. After checking it out, McKenna told him there already was a patent on the product.
The apparent result of his festering frustration was Friday's shooting rampage, they said.
"I understand that we live under the law, so that doesn't justify Joe's actions," Sparks said.
Jackson's family apologized to the victims' families.
"My apologies. We feel -- I wish there was something that I could do for them," said Henry Jackson.
Jackson had been arrested three times before, but nothing indicated he would later resort to murder.
Police said Jackson was arrested in 1968 for unlawful possession of a weapon and in 1977 for a stolen motor vehicle and disorderly conduct.
Betty Monroe, Jackson's downstairs neighbor, told NBC 5 that he told her "he had an invention, that he was going to get rich -- he had invented a seat for a truck."
Monroe feels Jackson "got a raw deal" and simply "snapped," adding that she was shocked to hear the news.
"I never knew him to be that kind of person," she said.
Families, Friends And Colleagues Mourn Victims
Chicago's patent lawyers were shocked when they heard that some of their most reputable colleagues lost their lives.
The law firm issued this statement over the weekend: "We are deeply saddened by the terrible tragedy. … Three wonderful people were taken from us in a brutal and senseless attack. Our love and prayers go out to the families."
The firm will remain closed Monday. Those who work there plan to meet at a location away from the office where they'll mourn together and meet with grief counselors.
McKenna specialized in patent, trademark and copyright law, and ran his solo practice out of office space he'd been renting for more than a decade from the intellectual property law firm.
"He practiced on his own but other than that, he was like one of us," said Richard Phillips, who's been with Wood Phillips for more than 50 years. "He was a good man."
McKenna was married to Suzanne Malec McKenna, deputy commissioner of natural resources and water quality for the City of Chicago's Department of Environment. The couple moved to Edgewater about three years ago after buying an old, white frame house that they renovated. They have a young son, Jonah, and a friend said they have another child on the way.
McKenna has three other children -- Matt, a Chicago Police officer, Warren and Amber -- from a previous marriage. His first wife, Pam, died unexpectedly a few weeks before her 50th birthday.
The McKennas were well known by their North Side neighbors.
"Michael and his wife were like the welcome wagon," said Chris Wall, who moved in after the McKennas. Wall exchanged "good mornings" with McKenna early Friday morning as both men were out in the frigid weather, walking their dogs. "It's a real tragedy," Wall said.
Neighbor Larry Pyrz said McKenna could often be spotted outside with his toddler son. He said McKenna also was involved in the community, knocking on Pyrz's door last week in hopes of getting him to sign a petition to install speed bumps in the area.
"He was always a smiling face," Pyrz said. "We're going to miss him."
McKenna graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Illinois before enrolling in Chicago-Kent Law School. He'd been representing clients since 1976. He was also an inventor, according to his Web site, and held two U.S. patents, one for a device to provide automatic signaling for autos.
Friends said Hoover was well known within the patent and intellectual property community, and law firm officials say he was "enormously dedicated and a passionate advocate for his clients."
Hoover joined Wood Phillips about four years ago and was a partner. He had extensive experience, having served as chief patent counsel for Chemetron Corporation and working as a patent attorney for Sunbeam.
He and his wife of nearly 40 years own a log cabin in Berrien County, Mich.
Hoover lived in a picturesque two-story red brick house at the mouth of a cul de sac in a quiet, close-knit neighborhood where the neighbors maintain lists of everyone's phone numbers for ready reference.
Last month, Hoover and his wife, Louise, who taught in Chicago public schools, attended one of the occasional neighborhood get-togethers.
"From a neighborhood point of view, he was a wonderful neighbor; everyone loved him and his wife and his kids. They lived here for over a quarter of a century. Nobody can understand what happened. We're all waiting to get more facts," said a neighbor on the block, Erich Gibbs.
Gibbs said Hoover had a daughter and a son who is an attorney.
Sam Pfeffer, one of Hoover's friends, told NBC 5, "It's very sorrowful because this fellow embodied all fo the fine qualities a man should have."
Goodson, the retired teacher, worked for Wood Phillips in the afternoons and lived in a high rise on North Sheridan Road. He was a native of Indiana, worked for the firm for about seven years and acquaintances believed he had no wife or children.
One of Goodson's friends, John Welsch, remembered him as a kind and compassionate man.
"We're really going to miss him, and of course he has a lot of friends who are going to be reminded day after day that Paul Goodson is no longer with us," said Welsch, the pastor at Moody's Church.
"You could always count on him. And even though he was battling cancer, he did so very heroically," Welsh said.
Michelle Sarjees, who worked on the building's 37th floor, said, "Paul was a very gentle man, very quiet. But when he spoke, he spoke with wisdom."
Leib, McKenna's longtime paralegal, has lived in Oak Park for more than 20 years. She was walking on crutches after being shot in the foot.
Leib, a mother of two, has worked for McKenna since 1993.
Sunday, she released a statement that said McKenna was "a loving friend, coworker, father, grandfather and husband. We are deeply saddened by his loss."
The AftermathThe lower floors of the building where commuter trains arrive were evacuated Friday after the shooting, and several streets surrounding the building were closed for a time after the incident.
Bill Healey, who works with a firm in the building, spoke with NBC5 on the phone while the building was under lockdown.
"We are all gathered in my office and kind of barricaded in right now," Healey said. "We're all safe at this point ... but everybody's quite uneasy."
People in the building said a public announcement repeatedly told workers to lock themselves in their suites and not to allow anyone in or out.
Keegan Greene, who works at Verizon Wireless on the first floor said that when the alarms went off, everyone thought it was a fire until security guards started shouting.
"One of the security guards that controls our kiosk came up and kept repeating, 'Run, run, run, run!'" Greene said.
Kirstin Kostuchowski, 19, said she was sitting in a cafe waiting to board a train for Elburn, Ill., when an announcement over the loudspeaker advised all passengers on trains to stay in their seats, and everybody else to leave building.
Metra service trains halted during the incident were back operating normally by Friday night.
The Chicago Transit Authority honored Metra tickets on all of its buses and rail lines in aftermath of Friday's shooting. Several CTA buses were rerouted around the scene.
Thousands of people were lining up outside the building to take Metra trains out of the Loop. Metra said that every train out of Ogilvie was making every stop along the line, so commuters did not have to worry about which train to board.
Pardonnet said she was not aware of a similar situation that has ever affected Metra service in this way.
Metra said that on an average Friday, about 50,000 commuters use the rail lines.
Refresh/revisit this page for more information as it becomes available. Additional information provided by Chicago Sun-Times Inc. Copyright 2007 by NBC5.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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