Politician Sends Message to Media

[Texsox]

http://www.local10.com/news/4778148/detail.html

 

MIAMI -- Suspended Miami Commissioner Art Teele fatally shot himself in the head in the lobby of the Miami Herald building late Wednesday afternoon.

 

Teele survived the shooting, and was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center in extremely critical condition.

 

Teele, 59, had gunshot wounds to the head and before he was taken from the lobby, he had lost a great deal of blood, witnesses said. A spokesman for the City of Miami Fire-Rescue Department, Ignatius Carroll, said Teele was found with two small caliber holes in the back of his head. Initially Teele responded to questions by blinking his eyes on command, he said.

 

According to witnesses, just after 6 p.m., Teele walked into the lobby, spoke calmly with a security guard and shook his hand. Then Teele took a pistol out of a bookbag and held it to his head.

 

The Herald's Web site says that Teele told the security guard to give a message to Herald columnist Jim DeFede. Teele said that he wanted DeFede to tell his wife, Stefanie Teele, that he loved her.

 

Then when police arrived, he pulled the trigger.

 

Employees of the newspaper said they heard one shot and the Herald building was immediately evacuated.

 

About two hours later, at 7:50 p.m., Teele was declared dead. His wife was at his side when he died.