Full article and picture: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12238270.htm

Former Miami City Commissioner Arthur E. Teele Jr. shot himself in the head in the lobby of The Miami Herald building this evening, four days after being arraigned on 26 counts of federal mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Teele walked into The Herald lobby shortly after 6 p.m., pulled a gun from a book bag, shook the security guard's hand and asked him to relay a message. "He said to tell [Herald columnist Jim] DeFede to tell his wife he loves her," said Felix Nazco, 35, the security guard.

 

This comes on the same day as the following article appeared in the Miami New Times:

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/Issues/curren...ws/feature.html

MIAMI -- Former City Commissioner Arthur E. Teele Jr., recently indicted on corruption charges, shot himself in the lobby of The Miami Herald building Wednesday, the city's mayor reported.

 

The newspaper said Teele shot himself in the mouth shortly after 6 p.m. He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, but his condition was not immediately known.

 

"My understanding is there is still a pulse but he's in critical condition," said Mayor Manny Diaz. "Obviously, it's very tragic and we're all extremely sad and praying for him."

 

Police used yellow crime-scene tape to block off the entire bayside building. Crowds gathered outside the tape amid very heavy police presence.

 

Miami police spokesman Delrish Moss told reporters that police received a report of a man with a gun dressed in blue in the lobby of the Herald.

 

"He came in asked to see a reporter, he was very distraught, he wanted to make sure we told his wife that he loved her," Moss said.

 

Moss added that police are forbidden from confirming the man's identity until his family is notified.

 

Teele, who also was a former federal official, and an electrical contractor were indicted July 14 on charges of lying to get more than $20 million in contracts at Miami International Airport that were supposed to go to minority-owned businesses.

 

The alleged fraud took place between December 2001 and this year, and FLP took fees from Teele and Maxwell in exchange for using its name. The indictment charges the two with conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering.

 

Teele is also a former Miami-Dade County commissioner and was once a local political powerhouse. He was convicted in March in state court of threatening a police officer as part of an unrelated corruption investigation that has yet to go to trial.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/4778191/detail.html

put cbs 4 on there covering it completley they just showed a shot of teele on the floor with two cops helping him.

Wow! People down there need a big chill pill. To think this man tried to run for County Mayor once.

 

CBS4

NBC6

WSVN 7

Local10

Holy crap, just saw this on the news.

 

Bizzare story, things had kept spiraling downward for this guy...

The Herald is reporting that Teele has been declared dead.

Police: Teele declared dead

 

BY LUISA YANEZ, CAROL ROSENBERG and MATTHEW I. PINZUR

 

mpinzur@herald.com

 

 

Former Miami City Commissioner Arthur E. Teele Jr. fatally shot himself in the head in the lobby of The Miami Herald building this evening, four days after being arraigned on 26 counts of federal mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

 

Teele walked into The Herald lobby shortly after 6 p.m., pulled a gun from a book bag, shook the security guard's hand and asked him to relay a message.

 

''He said to tell [Herald columnist Jim] DeFede to tell his wife he loves her,'' said Felix Nazco, 35, the security guard.

 

He then stood with the gun to his head until Miami police arrived, when he shot himself.

 

No one else was injured.

 

Teele was taken out on a gurney by Miami Fire-Rescue at 6:14 p.m., transported to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. According to a fire-rescue spokesman, his condition was ''very, very critical,'' with two bullet holes in the back of his head.

 

While traveling to the hospital medics attempted to put a tube in his mouth, but Teele bit down in resistance, said spokesman Ignatius Carroll.

 

Teele did not speak when medics asked if he could hear them, but Teele did blink his eyes in recognition.

 

All that remained on the lobby's marble floor was a pool of blood, his eyeglasses and the black-handled pistol.

 

''He was here less than 10 minutes,'' said Nazco, a 14-year Herald employee.

 

Teele, 59, faces federal charges of defrauding Miami-Dade County by helping a major electrical contractor use a small Miami front company to win airport contracts worth about $20 million. He received more than $59,000 for helping to organize the scheme, according to the federal indictment.

 

If convicted, he faces possible prison terms of 10 to 20 years on each of the 26 federal counts. He pleaded not guilty at Friday's arraignment, and his lawyer, David Garvin, called the charges ``a joke.''

 

Teele, removed last year from his City Commission seat by Gov. Jeb Bush, was convicted in March of threatening a police officer. He is on probation and free on bond.

 

Teele walked into The Herald dressed in dark suit, light blue shirt and crimson tie.

 

Once a powerhouse politician in Miami and Miami-Dade, Teele is already facing corruption charges in state court for allegedly taking kickbacks from a contractor in Overtown neighborhoods targeted for revitalization.

 

A lengthy cover story that consumes much of tomorrow's edition of Miami New Times accuses Teele of being involved with drug traffic, bribery, extortion and sex with multiple mistresses and male prostitutes.

 

Reporter Francisco Alvarado, who wrote the story, said it was primarily a compliation of prior media reports and new information revealed during discovery for Teele's pending trial.

 

''It's just a surreal coincidence that he did this on the day my article came out,'' said reporter Francisco Alvarado, who wrote the story. ``I really feel bad; I would never want anyone to harm themselves over something I wrote, but at the end of the day, I was just doing my job.''

 

Even with his recent legal woes and crumbling public career, Teele was able to tap into a deep well of supporters.

 

But even those wellwishers noticed a marked change in the charismatic and often contentios Art Teele in recent days.

 

''He was distancing himself from everyone,'' said Tangela Sears, an activist in the county's black community and onetime aide to former Miami Mayor Joe Carollo.

 

''I would text message him on his cellphone to let him know I was praying for him,'' said Sears. Teele would usually respond with a phone call. But in recent days, said Sears, her messages went unreturned.

 

''It's like he was drifting away from those close to him,'' said Sears, who described Teele as a ``strong man, and brilliant.''

 

``I think he just wanted to be alone.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12238270.htm

I'm not going to miss him.

 

Not being able to kill yourself is like failing at failing, like Maddox would say. (If he survives).

I don't think any of us would miss the crook, but shooting himself in the head in the Herald Building?

I don't think any of us would miss the crook, but shooting himself in the head in the Herald Building?

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Apparently Teele had several phone conversations with DeFede today.

wholly crap. this is like something you see in a movie.

I thought I remember this guys name from a Marlins stadium situation..I think the first time around with Henry. Am I right?

I'm not going to miss him.

 

Not being able to kill yourself is like failing at failing, like Maddox would say. (If he survives).

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:notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

Well he's definitely dead. Shame when anyone's reached that level of despair.

If you really feel the need to shoot yourself, why do it in such a public place? I guess he wanted to relay some message but still, I would be like scarred for life if someone put a gun in their mouth in front of my face.

heard it on the radio around 630, wow...

They just said on WTVJ that Teele had called DeFede 90 minutes before the incident and said he was going to "leave a package in the lobby" for him.

 

I'd say he had thought about it for a couple of hours.

Looks like Teele was a fruitcake and a drug dealer. The Miami Times and WSVN exposed him, that was the death penalty in Miami politics, and he blew his head off in 1 Herald Plaza to give the Herald the exclusive scoop.

Now if only every other corrupt SOB could do the same...

I always thought he'd be capable of pulling such as stunt.

 

Wow- make sure everyone knows how much you love your wife by killing yourself in front of tons of witnessess.

 

Nothing says love like suicide. A touching moment I'm sure she'll remember for the rest of her life.

 

He was always a loose cannon.

 

And, given Homeland Security these days, how did he get a gun into the lobby of the Miami Herald???

Jesus, whatever he was, I dont wish death on anybody.

 

As far as I can remember when I worked there last year, security is non exsistent there.

Jim DeFede was canned by the Miami Herald for illegally recording phone conversations with Teele.

Jim DeFede got fired today by the Herald for taping the phone call with Teele.

 

Herald columnist Jim DeFede fired over taped phone call

 

Metro columnist Jim DeFede said he taped a phone conversation with Art Teele hours before the politician shot himself. Executives said they fired DeFede because taping is illegal without consent.

 

The Herald fired columnist Jim DeFede Wednesday because he tape-recorded a phone conversation with Arthur E. Teele Jr. without his knowledge.

 

Teele had killed himself in The Herald's lobby earlier in the day without ever knowing that the columnist recorded their conversation.

 

Both Publisher Jes?s D?az Jr. and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler said they fired the popular Metro writer because it is illegal for anyone to tape a conversation with another person without that individual's consent in Florida.

 

DeFede told them that during his interview with Teele, he turned on a tape machine to record his conversation as the politician confided in him about his public corruption charges, financial problems and other sensitive issues, according to D?az.

 

At one point, Teele told the columnist that he was not speaking on the record -- but DeFede continued to record him anyway without his knowledge, D?az said.

 

D?az said that The Herald had no choice but to dismiss DeFede because his conduct was potentially a felony crime and unethical.

 

''With all of our sources, we have to treat them with respect and dignity,'' D?az said. ``I don't think we did that in this situation.''

 

''The public's trust is at stake as a result of Jim's actions,'' D?az said. ``We have to make sure that the public understands that trust is the most important value that the community bestows upon us.''

 

Fiedler, who was in San Jose, Calif., at The Herald's parent company, Knight Ridder, said the decision to fire DeFede was difficult.

 

''Jim has been a strong and valued voice at The Miami Herald and his departure will leave a significant void,'' Fiedler said in a statement. ``I am personally heartsick about this. But we must hold ourselves to the highest standard of integrity if we are to maintain the trust of our readers and those with whom we deal.''

 

Herald editors decided not to publish DeFede's column based on his interview with Teele because it was obtained under possibly illegal circumstances.

 

DeFede, a Herald columnist since June 2002 who had previously worked at the Miami New Times, stunned colleagues with the news of his firing as editors were editing the final Teele stories for Thursday's paper.

 

''As Teele was becoming unglued [on the phone], I turned on a tape recorder because I could tell that he was distraught and bouncing off the walls,'' DeFede told more than a dozen staffers in the newsroom. ``I made an illegal tape and the company decided to fire me.''

 

DeFede, who did not want to comment further, issued a prepared statement:

 

''In a tense situation I made a mistake,'' he said. ``The Miami Herald executives only learned about it because I came to them and admitted it.

 

``I told them I was willing to accept a suspension and apologize both to the newsroom and our readers. Unfortunately, The Herald decided on the death penalty instead.''

 

DeFede had covered Teele for more than a decade. When Teele was arrested for allegedly threatening undercover police officers who were tailing him and his wife, DeFede wrote a column saying the charges should never have been filed.

 

 

 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/...herald_politics

 

edit: Looks like Moneyball beat me to it.

Why do people feel the need to commit suicide with the audience or end others' lives as well? It'd be so much easier if the suicidal just shot themselves in the head in the privacy of their own home.

Why is it all the news stations feel the need to display shots of his body on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood? For christ sakes show a little respect for the family or something.

 

The Miami Herald supposedly had the picture splayed all over the front page. Nice shot for kids to see....

Jim DeFede was canned by the Miami Herald for illegally recording phone conversations with Teele.

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Wow :o