Cyprus-Forum.com

[Oracle]

UK taxi driver kills 12, wounds 25 in England

By SCOTT HEPPELL and JILL LAWLESS (AP) – 1 hour ago

SEASCALE, England — A taxi driver drove his vehicle on a shooting spree across a tranquil stretch of northwest England on Wednesday, methodically killing 12 people and wounding 25 others before turning the gun on himself, officials said.
The rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain's deadliest mass shooting since 1996 and it jolted a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare.
The body of the suspected gunman, 52-year-old Derrick Bird, was found in woods near Boot, a hamlet popular with hikers and vacationers in England's hilly, scenic Lake District. Police said two weapons were recovered from the scene.
Eight of the wounded were in the hospital, with three of them in critical condition. Queen Elizabeth II, who rarely issues statements responding to the news, said she shared in "the grief and horror of the whole country" and passed on her sympathy to the families of the victims.
The shootings had "shocked the people of Cumbria and around the country to the core," Police Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said.
Police said it was too early to say what the killer's motive was, or whether the shootings had been random. Some reports said Bird had quarreled with fellow cab drivers the night before the killings.
Peter Leder, a taxi driver who knew Bird, said he had seen the gunman Tuesday and didn't notice anything that was obviously amiss. But he was struck by Bird's departing words.
"When he left he said, 'See you Peter, but I won't see you again,'" Leder told Channel 4 News.
The first shootings were reported in the coastal town of Whitehaven, about 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of London. Witnesses said the dead there included two of Bird's fellow cabbies.
Police warned residents to stay indoors as they tracked the gunman's progress across the county. Witnesses described seeing the gunman driving around shooting from the window of his car.
Victims died in Seascale and Egremont, near Whitehaven, and in Gosforth, where a farmer's son was shot dead in a field. Workers at the nearby Sellafield nuclear processing plant were ordered to stay inside while the gunman was on the loose.
Hyde said there were 30 separate crime scenes. Many bodies remained on the ground late Wednesday, covered with sheets, awaiting the region's small and overstretched force of forensic officers.
Barrie Walker, a doctor in Seascale who certified one of the deaths, told the BBC that victims had been shot in the face, apparently with a shotgun.
Lyn Edwards, 59, a youth worker in Seascale, said she saw a man who had been shot in his car.

Googlenews

[denizaksulu]

Terrible news.

Poor families.

[Oracle]

Utterly sickening!

I wonder if we'll ever know what drove him to this?

[Gasman]

Yes this is very sad. I thought from the title it was going to be a joke.

[apc2010]

Utterly sickening!

I wonder if we'll ever know what drove him to this?

Is that humour ? taxi driver kills 12 , what DROVE him to this ???

[Oracle]

Utterly sickening!

I wonder if we'll ever know what drove him to this?

Is that humour ? taxi driver kills 12 , what DROVE him to this ???

No ... too obvious for me. Linguistic collocate. But, maybe 'yes' by your standards.

[cyprusgrump]

Yet another demonstration of how the knee-jerk gun bans in the UK save lives....

[SpartanGamer]

He did it because of a family feud about a will. Bit of an overreaction, don't you think? Why kill the innocents? What did he not get in the will?

here's a TIP to taxi drivers, don't let things DRIVE you crazy!

[cyprusgrump]

He did it because of a family feud about a will. Bit of an overreaction, don't you think?

Well, he had the decency to kill himself and save the expense of the trial so we may never know why he really did it...

[fig head]

on BBC his mate said he was having family problems !!

my personla opinion is..

that guy simply headed down a manic deprission and when it didnt pass quickly as it normally do (truama events manic episodes-only last few hours and in some cases that end with suicide it last days)

so he got to this point were he was angry at him self and angry at people for allowing him to reach this limit of self worthless and decided they should be punished !!!

here you go.. he simply gone mental..

if he didnt kill him self (as expected from such severe episdoe) he would be out of jail in no time for commiting a crime while being insane (any psychologist will easly prove that)

but at least the queen her self showed her sorrow over this attack

i wonder if may be anyone will say the british are terrorists (this is an act of terror) but no because he aint a muslim is just a criminal act...