Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Police have found the body of a man they had been hunting in Cumbria, United Kingdom for a series of shootings. Police later confirmed that twelve people had been killed with a further thirteen injured, three critically. Shots were fired in Whitehaven, Seascale and Egremont, with a total of thirty different crime scenes. The Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant was locked down for the first time in its history.
The prime suspect was named as 52 year old local man Derrick Bird, a taxi driver. The first of Bird’s victims was a fellow taxi driver shot in Whitehaven at about 10.30 local time, with the following victims being shot at random as Bird drove down the west coast. Originally driving a Citroën Picasso, he was later said to be on foot when he crashed his vehicle.
Members of the public were advised by police to stay indoors, and for those who saw him not to approach him, but to call them. The manhunt covered the Boot or Scafell Pike area, and at 14:04 BST (13:04 UTC) the Deputy Chief Constable of Cumbria reported that a body believed to be Bird was found in a wood near Boot with a firearm, and that he had turned the weapon on himself.
The affected area is popular with walkers and hikers, and currently, many schools across England are on half term, meaning the pupils have no classes.
British news network BBC News spoke to several eye-witnesses in relation to the incidents, from each of the areas, including Peter Watson of Whitehaven. “When I first got here it must have just happened. There was a man lying on the ground with police stood over him and a jacket on him,” he reported.
Home Secretary Theresa May is due to make a statement on the incident to the House of Commons tomorrow.