8 – Cumbria, United Kingdom
Gun control might severely limit the ability of potentially dangerous people to get their hands on firearms, but it is not foolproof. No matter what rules are put in place, short of banning all weapons, there are some who will qualify to hold them and then use them to do harm. One such man was Derrick Bird, a taxi driver from the town of Whitehaven in the Northern English county of Cumbria. He had held a shotgun licence for over 30 years at the time of his crimes and had been granted the right to retain it on several occasions, as well as a certificate for a rifle as well. He had had no run-ins with the law for two decades, was well liked in his community and for all the world looked like a functioning, normal member of society.
Beneath the surface, however, Bird was undergoing a major torment. A colleague told the press that Bird had been swindled out of a substantial amount of money by a Thai woman who had dumped him via text message, while he suspected that both his solicitor and his twin brother were conspiring to cut him out of his father’s will, losing him more money. He had been attacked by four clients several years previously and fellow taxi drivers described a serious change in his behaviour that had followed the assault, while one other driver alleged that Bird had a secret bank account with tens of thousands of pounds in it, which he feared may be exposed by his brother and his lawyer.
He would not take the chance. On the morning of June 2, Derrick Bird shot his brother David eleven times, drove to the home of his solicitor, Kevin Commons, and killed him too. He continued to the centre of Whitehaven, the closest town, where he came across a taxi driver with whom he had had disputes over the years and murdered him as well. As Bird drove off, firing at other people in the centre of the Cumbrian town, he was pursued by police, but as police in the UK are not routinely armed, they were forced to abort their chase when shot at.
News had got out that a gunman was on the loose in Cumbria and people were warned to stay indoors. Bird continued to shoot at random, including stopping to get the attention of bystanders before killing them. He drove for around two hours, killing nine people and injuring a further eleven, before parking his car, walking out into some woods and killing himself.
Bird’s motives were never fully known, and it was left to speculation. Whether financial, emotional or otherwise, there had been no indication whatsoever beforehand that such a rampage was likely. The British media discussed and debated every single aspect of Derrick Bird’s life, but got no closer to discovering what it was that made him commit his horrendous crimes.