12 confirmed murdered and 25 injured after Gunman runs amok in Whitehaven, Egremont and Seascale, Cu

Originally posted by Muppetus Galacticus

Originally posted by Raist
Other than that for anyone in the area I would still be alert. Until they know positively sure it is him he could have found a body close to his own size and used them as a cover for escape.

That is a good point. When events like this occur, we just assume that person has completely gone off the deep end and isn't thinking normally. There could the chance that this guy IS thinking straight and has a plan.

Sky News - first shooting was outside a beauticians in Whitehaven. More speculation, but perhaps it all revolves around a woman?

First shooting outside a beautician? And that while he makes a point out of (trying to) shoot everyone point blank in the face?

Maybe something to do with beauty in general? As people mentioned before, it's not like he would win any contests himself.

Theres rumours flying all over, NOBODY knows the full craic yet. There was one that suggested he had shot his mother, that turned out to be untrue. My mother works up at west cumberland hospital as a nurse, she's gonna try and keep me updated. If I hear anything useful I will post on here.

BTW the body found in the woods has been confirmed to be that of Derrick Bird.

I'm still a bit worried about family and friends as they have only released 4 names of the dead so far.

I suspect that after killing some specific individuals, it was suggested earlier that his mother and brother maybe amongst the victims as well as fellow taxi-drivers, that he then decided to kill as many random people as possible before taking his own life.

It seems remarkable that the majority of people who commit these type of crimes kill themselves as if it's one last defiant act.

I would have thought that they would have wanted to have their day in court so that they could vindicate themselves in some way.

The mind is a mysterious, and dangerous, thing to meddle with!

reply to post by woogleuk


My thoughts are with you my friend.

Originally posted by blupblup


We have (UK) one of these incidents about every 10 years or so?

You have one every year, if not more frequently.

Giving everyone guns to stop gun crime/rampages is The most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

To be fair, we are also more than 10 times your size.

My heart does go out to all of those affected. No matter what country it happens in, and regardless of our personal stand on firearms, incidents like this one are a tragedy.

Originally posted by Romekje

First shooting outside a beautician? And that while he makes a point out of (trying to) shoot everyone point blank in the face?

Maybe something to do with beauty in general? As people mentioned before, it's not like he would win any contests himself.

No. Shooting people in the face isnt about beauty. Its about the depth of your rage. You are shooting THEM. Its more personal. And if he was shooting strangers in the face, he hates people in general.

If he is a "weird loner" odds are, he has felt that other people dont like him. And if his life in general is going down hill, (if his mother is terminally ill, she may have been the only person who DID like him) and trouble at work, he may have just decided his life was crap and not worth living and that he was going to take as many of the people who he felt contributed to that as he could before taking his own.

My personal feeling about these rampage people is that they are people who are alienated and ignored, and often with a history of feeling picked on, and they want other people to recognize them as being important. Having failed to be accepted and appreciated for anything else, I think they decide to force the world to recognize them as having existed, while punishing the world for having mistreated them in the first place.

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander


To be fair, we are also more than 10 times your size.

So your country has more than 600 million people now?

Big increase, I must have not noticed.


ETA:

Lets try and save the "Gun" argument for another thread man.... leave this for those who want to talk about this incident.
There's been enough arguing now


[edit on 2/6/10 by blupblup]

Originally posted by Peruvianmonk
The BBC News 24 channel are talking about gun control with Roger Gray, a Firearms expert, and former member of the Metropolitian Firearms unit. He argue's the knee jerk reaction to Hungerford and Dunblane has done very little to bring gun crime down.

But he then argues those private citizens that legally own their weapons are not a problem as the regulations are so tight.

[edit on 2-6-2010 by Peruvianmonk]

Well I can only hope the knee-jerk brigade cool it because it's looking likely this killer was a legit gun owner

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


he wasn't picked on, he was actually like and respected round the area. A quiet pleasant man. He turned round to his mate last night and said "you wont see me from tomorrow".

I'm sure there will be an underlying reason.

As for the face shooting, it wasn't specifically the face he was going for, he shot people randomly, head, stomach, heart.

Originally posted by kozmo
So sad that those in your country, law abiding, who would choose to have a gun in order to defend themselves are stripped of that right.

That happened the same day we were stripped of the right to have starving sabre tooth tigers in our back gardens and velociraptors in our kitchens.

Britons have never held guns for personal defence and never want or need to. Why can't you get your head around that fact? We do not want to carry guins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a little disconcerting to know that in the USA you always carry a gun when cycling to work, catching a cab or getting your haircut ...... or, at least, that you think everyone in the UK shoud do so.

reply to post by blupblup


I was referring to size, landmass, but even if you do it as a percentage of the population, your trying to compare your rate of incidents like this to ours directly is silly and exaggerates the truth.

Dont be all bent out of shape that an issue that Brits in particular like to jump all over the US about has just occurred at home. Nuts happen. Even Nanny cant protect everyone all the time.

Originally posted by Essan
Totally shocked

But I'll say this now: this is no reason to change our gun laws in either direction. If Britons were allowed to own handguns then 99.9% of us would not do so. Though I'm sure quite a few Cumbrian folk do own shotguns and rifles, it being a rural area.

Take it from me the reason pistols never took off in the UK is because of the urbanisation in the UK now and the brainwashing against carrying them by the ptb.

Pistol ownership was in it's heyday just prior to Hungerford.

Your 99.9% figure is total bs btw

[edit on 2-6-2010 by WatchRider]

Originally posted by woogleuk

he wasn't picked on, he was actually like and respected round the area. A quiet pleasant man. He turned round to his mate last night and said "you wont see me from tomorrow".

I guess the press is just sensationalizing his "weird loner-ness" then. Its possible they do that here with our shooters too. I hope he left a note or something, it would be nice to get more insight into whats going on in someones head before they go off like this.

Originally posted by Illusionsaregrander

Originally posted by woogleuk

he wasn't picked on, he was actually like and respected round the area. A quiet pleasant man. He turned round to his mate last night and said "you wont see me from tomorrow".

I guess the press is just sensationalizing his "weird loner-ness" then. Its possible they do that here with our shooters too. I hope he left a note or something, it would be nice to get more insight into whats going on in someones head before they go off like this.

I'm watching this on the BBC now and according to one witness he was by no means a loner, he was a popular guy.

reply to post by WatchRider


It is fair to say that most legal gun owners I know are decent, law abiding citizens, however, there is one I now who I wouldn't trust with a butter knife, one who is possibly suffering from PTSD and a few right dodgy so and so's!

However, I must stress, these are very much the exceptions rather than the norm.

The thing with this that I just don't get is that he seems to be a perfectly normal, average Joe.

If he could have done this, which of us could be capable of it under certain circumstances?

A chilling thought.

Originally posted by EyesWideShut

Originally posted by neformore
The absolute depths that some people will sink to - in this case turning a tradgedy into a cheap pot shot at British culture - never ceases to amaze me.

Care to back that one up?... who is taking cheap pot shots at British culture?!? I get that the UK was never a big gun culture , but to strip the people of having the OPTION to protect themselves , I believe is Wrong.

Dude, you are fighting against the terrible self-defeating mentality that many Brits have when it comes to gun law and gun rights.
It's not something I like at all, especially as a legit gun owner but you can't change how most Brits think and are told to think.

Originally posted by Essan

Originally posted by kozmo
So sad that those in your country, law abiding, who would choose to have a gun in order to defend themselves are stripped of that right.

That happened the same day we were stripped of the right to have starving sabre tooth tigers in our back gardens and velociraptors in our kitchens.

Britons have never held guns for personal defence and never want or need to. Why can't you get your head around that fact? We do not want to carry guins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a little disconcerting to know that in the USA you always carry a gun when cycling to work, catching a cab or getting your haircut ...... or, at least, that you think everyone in the UK shoud do so.

Well I can guarantee this man wouldn't have gotten far here in the states. What you don't understand is the violent crime rate has gone down since they started issuing conceal and carry permits in mass. It's not the registered gun owners that pull this crap.

I own a firearm or 2. You don't see me traipsing around shooting people. In the UK you can easily get away with it for quite some time. Who's going to stop you? Peasants with pitchforks?

Whether you want to have them or not is irrelevant. If you did, this would have never have happened. Not to this number of deaths at least. Besides what happened to the British love of the hunt? It's legendary....

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


It's got nothing to do with landmass, population or whatever. It's not even anything to do with gun control. I could go out tomorrow, make a few phone calls and for a couple of hundred quid buy a hand gun.

The penalty for possessing an unlawful firearm is very severe, your talking years in prison. That alone puts most off.

There is also the fact that, as someone has already pointed out, we DONT want guns, we dont NEED guns. If you live in a country that is so paranoid that you gotta take a gun to the bathroom just to take a dump, then you are doomed to fail.

And from what I know of Derrick Bird it's doubtful he had a license for the weapons used. One of them was a shotgun, and the other was described as some sort of massive sniper rifle with a huge scope, the latter I don't think any civilian could legally own.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


thanks for displayin our world stereotype out in such a callous manner

its always our way or nothin' isn't it?

the brits don't do guns. how many times do they need to say it?

why do you feel the need to try and rub salt in the wound in such a gloating fashion?

people are dead.. a little respect and a little class please?

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
This may be a little off topic, but doesn't this situation demonstrate the foolishness of disarming the law abiding public? A criminal has a gun and entire regions are being told to hide in their homes?

Yeah, you're right. What do people need? GUNS! That wouldn't end in a total disaster. Not at all.

If anything, this is a perfect example of why guns SHOULD be severely controlled and restricted.