Latest Rage/Copycat Killing - English Cabbie Derrick Bird

[elfismiles]

Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Bird Killings

A mass shooting and the shooter's suicide have occurred in the United Kingdom.

At least 12 people are dead and 25 are wounded after a gunman opened fire in small, picturesque villages in northwest England on Wednesday morning, June 2, 2010, British police say. The rampage, in a region famed for its tranquil beauty, shocked a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare. It was Britain's deadliest mass shooting since 1996.

Cumbria police released this picture of Derrick Bird, 52, considered the main suspect in deadly shootings Wednesday morning. (Cumbria Constabulary)

Police have found the body of a man believed to be the alleged gunman, Derrick Bird, 52, a taxi driver described as quiet but friendly. They found the body in a wooded area near the Lake District village of Boot, where it was believed Bird had fled. They also found a gun alongside the body.

The discovery ended a harrowing morning for residents of the country's West and Central Lakes areas, whom police ordered to stay indoors as the search for Bird ensued.

Read the rest here:
http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2010/ ... lings.html

[elfismiles]

Cumbria shootings: gunman Derrick Bird kills 12 then shoots himself
A gunman killed at least 12 people in a shooting spree in Cumbria and injured another 25 before taking his own life.

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Published: 5:53PM BST 02 Jun 2010


The village of Boot in Eskdale, Cumbria. Derrick Bird's body was found, together with a firearm in a wooded area of Boot. Picture: ALAMY

Link to this video
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvid ... mself.html

Derrick Bird, a taxi driver, drove down the west coast in a three and a half-hour rampage blasting passers-by at random.

Some reports suggested he had beckoned victims over to his car before shooting them at point blank range, while other witnesses described seeing Bird driving down the road pointing his gun out of the window.

A friend who he had met the previous evening, Peter Leder, said Bird had told him: "You won't see me again."

A fellow taxi driver, who did not want to be named, said Bird had argued with colleagues on the evening before the attack three of his colleagues had been shot, two fatally.

He said: "All of the taxi drivers were friends. But I heard last night there was an argument on the taxi rank.

"I don't know what caused it, but something must have happened last night. Derrick Bird took off in his car and went home. I don't know what time of night it was."


Cumbria shootings map
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7797628 ... s-map.html

Armed with two weapons - a .22 rifle and a shotgun - Bird drove down the coast from Whitehaven where the first attacks took place, leaving a trail of carnage in his wake.

Residents of the county were warned to stay indoors as police followed the deadly route, discovering more bodies as they went. At one point Bird abandoned his Citroen Picasso for another car which he then crashed near woods in the picturesque Lake District town of Boot. The body of Bird, a 52 year-old divorced father-of-two, together with his guns were found nearby.

Throughout the afternoon witnesses came forward with harrowing tales of the trail of destruction left by Bird.

In addition to two people in Whitehaven - one of whom as named locally as Darren Rewcastle -, other victims are believed to included Garry Purdham, a farmer working in a field alongside a road where the killer passed, a woman out shopping and a man in Egrement crossing a bridge. Reports suggest a door-to-door salesman, a cyclist, a pub landlord were also hit.

Witnesses described how some victims were shot multiple times as they tried to flee. A number of the dead were said to have been shot in the head at point blank range.

Police said they were struggling to cope with the scale of the crime.

Detective Constable Stuart Hyde said officers are examining 30 crime scenes.

"Our condolences go out to families and friends of those affected by the horrific incidents that unfolded today," he said.

"These are local people and local police who knew the people killed and injured today.

"It's been a truly exceptional and challenging incident that Cumbria Police has had to deal with today."

David Cameron pledged today to do everything possible to help communities "shattered" by the killing spree.

Updating the Commons at the start of Prime Minister's Questions, he said: "The Government will do everything it possibly can to help the local community and those affected and to keep the House informed.

"When lives and communities are suddenly shattered in this way, our thoughts should be with all those caught up in these tragic events, especially the families and friends of those killed or injured."

The incident started at a taxi rank in Duke Street, Whitehaven, a picturesque port on the west coast of Cumbria.

Local people first raised the alarm at 10.35am after shots were fired into a car.

Alan Hannah, 68, of Great Broughton, told the Whitehaven News: "A car pulled up on the left, stopping at the lights.

"I saw a man with a large shotgun and his windscreen was smashed. I drove through the red light to get into Lowther Street and get out of the way. I got home safely but was very shaken."

Bird then fled by car, with witnesses reporting seeing him hanging out of the driver's window with a shotgun. With the police in pursuit, he passed the nuclear powerstation at Sellafield, which was temporarily locked down, on his deadly journey.

From Whitehaven, Bird headed to Egremont where he killed at least two more people, before passing through Gosforth and Seascale, leaving more bodies in his wake.

A man reported finding the body of another of Bird's victims - a woman in her 60s carrying shopping bags - outside his house in Egremont.

Billy Boakes, 23, did not see the shooting but heard two gunshots at around 11am.

He said: "I thought nothing of it at first, I thought it was just a trailer banging as it went down the lane but then I looked out the front window two minutes later and saw a car and a push bike parked up and thought there had been an accident.

"I went outside and saw the body of the woman lying outside my house."

At the small hamlet of Boot, as terrified locals hid in the village pub, Bird abandoned his transport and fled on foot.

The vicar of Eskdale, the Rev Anne Baker, said she heard that two people had a lucky escape when they approached him after the collision to see if they could help.

She said police were tracing the gunman's route to the wood where he apparently shot himself, hoping not to find any more victims.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... mself.html

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

"Derrick Bird Kills"....hmm. [i]

Reminds me that a criminal investigation of BP was just announced.
What a name. And such remarkable timing for those keywords and themes.
Was he noted, profiled, nurtured, and then pushed, perhaps? "Like a duck in a noose."

Because for decades now propaganda-of-the-deed has been designed around the mnemonic linguistics I cite.

"Derrick: The device was named for its resemblance to a type of gallows from which a hangman's noose hangs. The derrick type of gallows in turn got its name from Thomas Derrick, an English executioner from the Elizabethan era."

[Username]

~
Good one, HMW.

That one gives me chills, it does.
~

[Simulist]

Really?!? Some guy named "Derrick Bird" kills a bunch of people in England, and we're asked to consider that he was recruited to do so by "the bad guys" … for what, exactly? Because they thought his name would momentarily take people's minds off of the unfolding calamity in the Gulf of Mexico that might stretch on for months, perhaps even years?

Have these "bad guys" had their heads examined recently? Are they currently on any prescription medications? And, perhaps most importantly, are they being paid for this stuff?

[Sepka]

Something that immediately struck me about this was that it happened near Sellafield, which was the location of the old Windscale nuclear pile that caught fire in October of 1957. This fellow, in fact, was born on October 8th, two days before the emergency was declared, the day that the fire probably started. It's the sort of confluence of facts that that seem like they ought to have some meaningful relationship, even if one can't be found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire


Edit: Interesting too, (to me at least) is that 'Derrick' was the family name of one of history's most famous executioners. Thomas Derrick, HM Elizabeth I's executioner at Tyburn. He invented the piece of hoisting equipment that bears his name.

Further edit: Which Hugh has apparently already noted...

[AhabsOtherLeg]

The story that is coming out now suggests that this was down to a relatively minor family disagreement over a will, of all things - Derrick Bird was the designated carer for his elderly mother, who was dying of cancer, and his twin brother was contesting the will before her death, along with his solicitor. So Mr. Bird, by some accounts, killed his mother, his brother, his brother's solicitor, his friends at the taxi rank who had unwisely called him a "mummy's boy" the night before - seriously, who would be bothered by that taunt, as a middle-aged divorcee? - before going on his rampage.

One thing all his neighbours, friends, and accquaintances agree on is that: "This wasn't him."

It was out of his character, anyway. But maybe only the character people were aware of.

I don't want to sound like one of them bawbags who think they are Cracker, but he doesn't really fit the profile of a spree killer as it is presently known - except that he is middle-aged, and balding - spree-killer 101.

Nicknamed Birdy, he would often stop off for a pint and chat at his local and always said hello to neighbours and colleagues.

No one would have dreamed the divorced 52-year-old would turn into a rampaging gunman capable of shooting dead 12 people.

Last night, as the horrific details of his killing spree continued to emerge, friends and neighbours described their complete shock at the unassuming cabbie’s actions.

Sue Matthews, a telephonist at A2B Taxis, said: “I can’t believe he would do that – he was a quiet little fellow.

“I know him through work, he was self-employed but it’s a small place.

“I would say he was fairly popular. I would see him once a week out and about.”

Michelle Haigh, 41, the landlady of Bird’s local The Hound Inn, added: “He was a nice guy, nothing out of the ordinary.

“He’d come in, have a couple of pints, have a chat with his friend and go home. This isn’t in character with the Derrick Bird we know.”

Shooting enthusiast Bird came from the tiny area of Rowrah, near Frizington in Cumbria.

Tubby and balding, Bird had lived alone after splitting up with partner Linda Mills shortly after the birth of their second son Jamie, now 16.

Just last week he became a grandfather for the first time after Jamie’s partner gave birth to baby Layton.

Eh, actually, no, fuck it. That's the profile of a spree killer dead on. Sorry. Got thrown off by the mention of sociability - that bit's unusual.

Glenda Pears, who runs L&G Taxis in Whitehaven, described him as a “real nice man” who had a twin, David, and older brother Brian.

She could not understand why he killed one of the men at a rival taxi rank as they were friends. “We just don’t know what’s happened. The lad who was killed was friends with him. They used to stand together having a craic on the rank,” she said.

“He was friends with everybody and used to stand around and joke.”

Peter Leder, who worked with Bird as a taxi driver, revealed the night before his killing spree he mysteriously said: “I won’t see you again”.

Mr Leder added: “I couldn’t understand why he’d said that. I realise now why he wouldn’t see us again because of what’s happened. I don’t think he had a vendetta against the taxi drivers.

“I just think they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t understand why he’d do it to the lads we worked with every day.”

Mr Leder reckons Bird was worried about his elderly mother, who is thought to be ill and in a nursing home.

Ryan Dempsey, 26, who lived two doors down from the killer, said: “I can’t believe what has happened. It’s just unbelievable. I have known him for 15 years. He was always pleasant, always had time to say hello.”

Mr Dempsey said he had never seen Bird carrying a gun or a shotgun but added in that part of the countryside game shooting was not uncommon. He said: “As far as I’m concerned this is completely out of character. I had never seen him in a bad mood.”

Other neighbours said he was a fan of motor sports and would wear speedway jackets when he left the house.

James Campbell, 68, spoke to police yesterday as news of the shooting and the hunt for Bird broke.

He said: “He is my neighbour and I have never found any fault in him.

“He has always been all right as long as I have known him.

“I used to speak to him as he was coming and going. We would say hello and pass the time of day.

“I don’t know what could possibly have driven him to do something like this. He’s always been a good neighbour and nice man as long as I’ve known him.”

Sarah Jackson, 68, added: ”We often see him go past in his car. He’s a quiet guy and from a good family.” Another neighbour revealed Bird had lived on Rowrah Road for over 20 years and had never caused any problems, adding: “I know him, he’s all right”.

Textbook stuff, this, eh?

Whitehaven councillor John Kane said Bird had always appeared to be “very placid, a very quiet man who kept himself to himself”.

He added that “something must have pushed him over the edge”. A friend described him as a quietly-spoken guy who was always friendly.

He added: “Derrick wouldn’t usually say ‘boo’ to a goose. We can’t believe it.

“I know he enjoyed shooting and scuba diving when he wasn’t working - he enjoyed a drink too.”

The friend said Bird enjoyed foreign holidays, travelling to Thailand each year with friends.

Christ... I'm not sure whether I should hate myself for knowing what that unimportant detail might mean in advance, or hate myself because the media knows exactly what many of us will assume from that single unimportant detail about this dead guy's holidays - I blame Josef Fritzl and his precedents for this. Call it the Fitzl Effect. Actually, no, don't - forget that guy. Let his acts die with him.

A close relative of Linda, Bird’s ex-partner, said: “I’ve known Derrick all of his life. He and his family all grew up around here. They were a nice family, him, his mum and dad and two brothers. He met Linda around 30 years ago.

“They both went to school together. She was a little younger than him. I never really thought much of him as a man. He didn’t have much character to him.

“He was quiet and moody. He was short but in later life he got fat and lost his hair.

“I don’t think he had much in the way of self-esteem."

This is like a reading straight from the Book of Spree-Killers. But maybe it is. Maybe it's that simple. After all, spree killing is not as unusual a thing as it used to be.

"Derrick and Linda didn’t speak at all after the split. But despite everything he was a good dad and I know Jamie liked to spend time with him.”

At Bird’s home, several solicitors’ letters could be seen by the window along with a letter from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Three years ago Bird was a victim of a vicious attack by a fair-dodging customer.

He was knocked unconscious and left with two broken teeth when he challenged Daniel Carr after he and three friends jumped out of his cab without paying. Carr, then 19, admitted causing ABH and got on a six-month curfew.

Bird said following the incident he hadn’t wanted to work nights and “was still nervous and anxious’’.

A neighbour of his ex Linda said: “I only saw Derrick last night. He came up in his taxi as I was coming back from walking the dog. He gave me a wave and was smiling. He seemed perfectly nice as he always has been.”

Christ. For once, I can only hope this was a bizarre motiveless outburst, a product of extreme mental illness, or even the result of some kind of bizarre Manchurian programming.

If it really was all about his mother's will, and he really was a nice guy who cared for her in her dying days, and then he killed twelve people, including his own brother .... miles apart, most of those people knowing nothing about any of it, and all of them killed by mere happenstance... well, that's actually the worst case scenario.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

.
Good point, Sepka. Seascale/Windscale instantly jumped out at me too.

Windscale sealed it's gates during Derrick's rampage. The first time those gates have been fully sealed since the fire. Windscale/Sellafield went into their highest state of full alert - no one has ever seen, or at least reported, what exactly happens when that happens.

I'm hoping some lonely protesters were camping up on the heath with video cameras. It's the only good thing that could come out of all of this, if they got some film of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary at work. Noone knows the activities, powers, weaponry, and reactive capabilities of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The public pays for it, but is not allowed to know anything about it.

It would be interesting to see how effective they are in a crisis, and if they are effective at all.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

double

[elfismiles]

Lots of "bloody" pics at the link...

Shocked parents brand Lady Gaga's bloody stage show as 'sickening' in wake of Cumbria slaughter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... ghter.html

[semper occultus]

Something that immediately struck me about this was that it happened near Sellafield, which was the location of the old Windscale nuclear pile

news report on telly tonight that he had actually worked at Sellafield in the past & was laid off - which proves at least some link - however tenuous - with the secret state.

[Byrne]

Cumbria shootings: unanswered questions
What caused taxi driver Derrick Bird to go on a murderous rampage, shooting 12 people dead before turning his gun on himself, was still unclear 24 hours after the massacre began in the rural town of Whitehaven, Cumbria.

By Nick Collins
Published: 11:30AM BST 03 Jun 2010

The morning after the killing spree, questions remained over the mental health of the normally "placid" father of two, as well as how he was able to carry out the mass murder over the course of several hours.


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What caused Derrick Bird to murder 12 people?

Bird's first two victims were his twin brother, David, and a solicitor, Kevin Commons, who he shot in his home town of Frizington shortly after 8.30am. There were claims his actions resulted from a bitter legal dispute over the will of his mother, who was said to be seriously ill.

He next went to a taxi rank in Duke Street, Whitehaven where the previous night he had been witnessed arguing with three men and shot three fellow drivers, killing two of them.

Darren Pears, 32, a cabbie, said Bird had been "picked on" by other drivers, and that he often complained about them touting for business rather than joining the back of the queue at the rank.

Another driver said Bird had shaken the hands of the men he argued with and said: "There's going to be a rampage tomorrow".

What was his mental state when he carried out the attacks?

The killer was not known to mental health services, and had been successfully approved by police for a firearms license.

Bird, a father-of-two, was described by friends as "placid" and a "quiet lad" as well as "a bit of a loner". But on Tuesday night he told Peter Leder, a friend: "You won't see me again".

After his dispute with the taxi drivers, he returned to his house and armed himself with a shotgun and a .22 rifle, but was stopped by a friend's daughter before he could carry out his revenge.

Could he have been stopped earlier?

The setting for the tragedy was a number of towns and villages on the west coast of rural Cumbria, a rural area with one of the country's smallest police forces where emergency services were unaccustomed to gun crime and ill-equipped to deal with the manhunt.

From Whitehaven, Bird sped through Egremont, Wilton, Gosforth and Seascale, killing as he went, before eventually cutting across the county to the hamlet of Boot, where he took his own life.

Every armed officer in the county was summoned to help with the manhunt, but Bird's movement made a nightmare scenario for police trying desperately to halt him in his tracks while ensuring the public remained informed.

The civil nuclear police were called in from the local Sellafield plant, along with two helicopters from the RAF and one from neighbouring Lancashire police.

At one stage, snipers were lined up on a bridge at Ravenglass and Erkdale railway station. It is believed they had been authorised to open fire.

However Bird somehow managed to remain on the loose for three and a half hours and police only caught up with him after he had turned his guns on himself.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... tions.html

[Sepka]

Jason Offut has something interesting to relate about the murderer in this week's column: http://from-the-shadows.blogspot.com/20 ... eople.html

As the cabbie drove slowly by, staring at Williams, the boy noticed something odd about the man – something unnatural.

“The crazy driver stared me in the eyes, and my mum,” Williams said. “He looked a bit mad. He had his eyes like a hawk staring at something. His eyes were black.”

Dead black.

“We were like that for seven seconds but it felt a lot longer,” Williams said. “I didn’t run. I don’t know why.”

Offut takes this to mean that the murderer's eyes were entirely black. I'm not sure myself that that's what the boy is actually describing, and it's unclear whether Offut interviewed the boy himself or got it from another source. Nonetheless, it's an interesting observation (to me, at least). Even if all that was meant was that Bird's pupils were widely dilated during the killings, that still opens some interesting lines of speculation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mydriasis

[elfismiles]

So MR. BIRD watched them “like a hawk”!

Nice catch Sepka.

Offut almost certainly didn’t do an interview. Scroogle the phrase “He had his eyes like a hawk staring at something” and we get these:

Cumbria shootings: Derrick Bird stared at boy 'like a hawk ...
Jun 5, 2010 ... He had his eyes like a hawk staring at something.” Although the incident lasted seconds, Jordan said: “It did seem a very long time. ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -hawk.html

Boy, 9, witnessed Derrick Bird murder cyclist - Times Online
Jun 4, 2010 ... He had his eyes like a hawk staring at something.” Jordan's father, Andy, admitted that his son – and his family – had had a narrow escape. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 144014.ece

Etc.