Hungerford rampage

The Hungerford rampage , also known as the Hungerford Massacre , took place on August 19, 1987 in Hungerford , a small town in Berkshire , England . The 27-year-old unemployed Michael Robert Ryan shot 16 people and injured at least 13 others before shooting himself. It was the most casualty spree in the United Kingdom to date .

Due to the fact that Ryan carried out the massacre exclusively with legally acquired handguns, the British gun law, which had existed since 1968, was tightened considerably. Since 1988 British citizens have been banned from a. semi-automatic rifles and certain forearm bolt action rifles .

Perpetrator

Michael Robert Ryan was born on May 18, 1960 at Savernake Hospital in Hungerford to Alfred Henry Ryan and his wife Dorothy . He grew up as an only child in Hungerford and attended the local primary school, then the John O'Gaunt Secondary School and then the Newbury College of Further Education. He then worked as a janitor until his father's death in 1985 and joined the Tunnel Rifle and Pistol Club in Wiltshire . He legally acquired two pistols , two forearm bolt action rifles and two self-loading rifles.

Rampage

On Wednesday, August 19, 1987, Michael Ryan shot and killed Susan Godfrey, 35, in the Savernake Forest Recreation Area , about seven miles from Hungerford. Ryan surprised her and her two children at a picnic and killed them with 13 gunshots; he locked the children in the woman's car. Then he drove his car to the Froxfield petrol station , took a self-loading rifle out of the trunk, stormed into the shop, hit the cashier and pulled the trigger several times, but no shot was fired. Ryan jumped back in his car and escaped while the woman alerted the police.

Ryan then drove to his parents' home in Hungerford, shot his dog and set the house on fire. After putting on a camouflage suit, he took a Beretta 92 , an M1 Carbine, and a Type 56 assault rifle and ammunition from his vehicle and walked down the street. In a back garden he shot the couple Roland and Sheila Mason , who lived next door , before shooting a 14-year-old girl in front of a residential building, who was hit in both legs and seriously injured. He then shot and killed Kenneth Clements , who was walking with his family.

Shortly afterwards, the perpetrator shot at the first arriving police car and another vehicle, the police officer Roger Brereton was killed while still in his car; In the second vehicle, a woman and her daughter were seriously injured. Local resident Abdul Khan , who went outside because of the noise, was shot dead in his garden; a neighbor who tried to help him was shot three times and seriously injured. Ryan then shot an ambulance, injuring a paramedic, and killing driver George White , who then rammed the fired police car. White's passenger sustained three gunshot wounds but survived.

When Ryan's mother drove home from shopping and found her son at the scene, he killed her with five shots at close range. He then crossed the sports field of a school and shot the passerby Francis Butler . After he shot and seriously injured a 71-year-old woman, he killed the taxi driver Marcus Bernard with a head shot. When four other cars were shot at, Douglas Wainwright , Eric Vardy and Sandra Hill were killed and three other occupants were seriously injured. Ryan then broke into a house, shot the wheelchair-sitting Myrtle Gibbs and her husband Victor , who had tried in vain to cover them with his body, and opened fire on several neighboring buildings, killing the employee Ian Playle and injuring three other people were.

Most recently, he went to the John O'Gaunt Secondary School, which was surrounded by a special unit shortly afterwards. By threatening that he had an unsecured hand grenade with him, he was able to prevent a storm by the police. After about 90 minutes of negotiations, Ryan killed himself with a headshot.

consequences

As a result of the rampage, the British Parliament tightened the already relatively strict gun law. The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was signed by Queen Elizabeth II on November 15, 1988 and formally entered into force two months later. It was an amendment to Article 5 of the Firearms Act of 1968. This amendment banned private possession of many weapons, including semi-automatic rifles, fully automatic weapons , rocket launchers, grenade launchers and all types of explosive ammunition.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Firearms Act 1968. Retrieved August 19, 2012 . 

Web links

• The rampage on crime and investigation network (accessed Feb. 2013)