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Jun 3, 2010
Rampage in England

A GUNMAN killed at least 12 people in a deadly rampage through a popular tourist region in north-west England on Wednesday, before apparently turning the gun on himself. At least 25 people were injured when 52-year-old taxi driver Derrick Bird spent more than three hours driving through the Lake District, reportedly shooting people from his car window.

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A gunman killed at least 12 people after going on a rampage in a popular tourist area in northwest England on Wednesday. -- AFP





Police officers are seen at the location where Derrick Bird killed himself, after going on a shooting spree throughout the Lake District, in Boot, northwestern England. -- AP





A police vehicle blocks a main street after a shooting incident in the Cumbrian town of Whitehaven on Wednesday. -- REUTERS

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The body of a victim covered by a sheet lies in the street, after a man went on a shooting spree throughout the Lake District, in Egremont, northwestern England. -- AP


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Police look under a sheet covering a body on Hagget End Road, in Egremont where a person was shot dead when taxi driver Derrick Bird went on a shooting rampage in northwest England on Wednesday. -- AP


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Police stand next to a body following a shooting on the old Bridge at Egremont. -- AP

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Police officers stand near a Land Rover vehicle which had been attacked by a gunman in the town of Seascale, northern England. -- REUTERS


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Floral tributes lay on Duke street in Whitehaven, Cumbria, north west of England on Wednesday. -- AFP


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A written tribute is pictured on a betting slip left with flowers at the scene of a shooting on the Old Bridge, in Egremont, Cumbria. -- AFP

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Jun 3, 2010

RAMPAGE IN ENGLAND
Killer was a 'normal bloke'



'Birdy', as he was known, had two grown-up sons, one of whom had recently had his first child. -- PHOTO: AP

LONDON - FRIENDS and neighbours of Derrick Bird, who killed 12 people on a shooting spree in northern England, have expressed shock that a 'normal bloke' could wreak such devastation. But there were reportedly some prior warnings of the killings, which media reports suggest could have been caused by a family feud or a row at work - and which caused the normally composed Bird to explode.

The 52-year-old taxi driver drove through the picturesque Lake District on Wednesday morning on a terrifying rampage that only ended when he turned the gun on himself. Police do not yet know what motivated the attack. He had no history of mental illness, according to the local health authorities.

Some reports suggested a family rift over his mother's will could be to blame. The Times newspaper reported that Bird's twin brother David was among his victims, as was the family's solicitor, Kevin J. Commons. Meanwhile The Sun quoted a fellow taxi driver as saying that Bird had been involved in a row with his colleagues on Tuesday night, hours before the killings, over the issue of queue-jumping in the taxi ranks. 'Afterwards Derrick shook all their hands and said, 'There's going to be a rampage tomorrow',' the unnamed colleague said.

Peter Ledder, a friend of Bird's going back 20 years, also told The Times that there had been some indication of what he was going to do. In a conversation at midnight on Tuesday, Bird told him: 'I won't see you again.' Local people expressed shock that the killer was the quiet divorcee who lived alone in the village of Rowrah, worked hard and enjoyed holidays abroad.

'Birdy', as he was known, had two grown-up sons, one of whom had recently had his first child. Some newspapers reported that Bird's father had left him his guns when he died years ago. Michelle Haigh, the landlady at The Hound Inn pub where Bird would regularly pop in for a drink, said: 'He was just a normal bloke. He was a nice guy, nothing out of the ordinary. He would come into the pub, have a couple of pints, have a chat with his friend and go home. This is not in character with the Derrick Bird we know.' -- AFP

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TIMELINE OF SHOOTINGS

LONDON - Here is a timeline of the shooting spree which killed 12 people in the picturesque Lake District area of northwest England on Wednesday:

- 10.35am (0935 GMT, 5.35pm Singapore time) - Police called after shots fired near centre of coastal town of Whitehaven. A short time later, officers issue a public warning to people living in Whitehaven, plus nearby Egremont and Seascale, to stay indoors.

- 12.18pm - Cumbria Constabulary says a 'a number of people' have been injured in a series of shootings.

- 12.35pm - 'There are a number of fatalities,' police announce.

- 12.41pm - Police name the suspect as Derrick Bird, 52, a local taxi driver, and issue a photograph, warning people not to approach him.

- 1pm - Bird is reported to have abandoned his car near Boot, a small village some 32km south of Whitehaven, and to be travelling by foot.

- 1.04pm - Radio Cumbria reports that at least four people are feared dead.

- 1.40pm - Bird's body is found in a wooded area near Boot.

- 3.02pm - Prime Minister David Cameron tells the House of Commons in London that at least five people have died, saying he is 'alarmed and shocked' by the massacre.

- 5.25pm - Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde says 12 people were killed and 25 injured, three of them critically, before Bird took his own life.

Officers were investigating at 30 separate crime scenes. -- AFP