The Copeland gun massacre
Words cannot adequately describe the horror of today's events in which Rowrah taxi driver Derrick Bird went on a rampage around Copeland.
In the first public incident in Duke Street, Whitehaven, which is literally just around the corner from my office in Whitehaven Telephone exchange, Bird shot several fellow taxi drivers at the taxi rank. He then jumped into his car and headed south, leaving a trail of dead and injured victims at thirty locations including Egremont, Gosforth, and Seascale before finally turning one of his two guns on himself at Boot in the Eskdale valley. At the time of writing it is believed that twelve innocent people have been shot dead and twenty-five injured.
(Postscript: the above figure for the number of deaths is correct - the gunman shot dead twelve other people and then himself - but the number of people who were shot but survived was eventually confirmed as eleven.)
Whitehaven, Egremont, Seascale, and Gosforth are all very tightly knit communities where it is only a slight exaggeration to say that everyone knows everyone else. I don't think the shock has fully sunk in yet, but the mourning is already starting.
Already people are starting to say, first the floods hit Central and West Cumbria, then last week there was the tragic Keswick School coach crash in which three people including two kids from West Cumbria died, and now this!
The Emergency services did a magnificent job, and I am sure that the very strong community will rise to the challenge of dealing with this, as it has risen to so many other challenges, but I hope the national and international press will treat the communities of Copeland and particularly the families of the victims with dignity.
In the meantime our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and particularly with the families of those who died. And as I've had cause to write things like that entirely too often in the recent past, I am also praying that I have no further need to do so for a good long while.
In the first public incident in Duke Street, Whitehaven, which is literally just around the corner from my office in Whitehaven Telephone exchange, Bird shot several fellow taxi drivers at the taxi rank. He then jumped into his car and headed south, leaving a trail of dead and injured victims at thirty locations including Egremont, Gosforth, and Seascale before finally turning one of his two guns on himself at Boot in the Eskdale valley. At the time of writing it is believed that twelve innocent people have been shot dead and twenty-five injured.
(Postscript: the above figure for the number of deaths is correct - the gunman shot dead twelve other people and then himself - but the number of people who were shot but survived was eventually confirmed as eleven.)
Whitehaven, Egremont, Seascale, and Gosforth are all very tightly knit communities where it is only a slight exaggeration to say that everyone knows everyone else. I don't think the shock has fully sunk in yet, but the mourning is already starting.
Already people are starting to say, first the floods hit Central and West Cumbria, then last week there was the tragic Keswick School coach crash in which three people including two kids from West Cumbria died, and now this!
The Emergency services did a magnificent job, and I am sure that the very strong community will rise to the challenge of dealing with this, as it has risen to so many other challenges, but I hope the national and international press will treat the communities of Copeland and particularly the families of the victims with dignity.
In the meantime our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and particularly with the families of those who died. And as I've had cause to write things like that entirely too often in the recent past, I am also praying that I have no further need to do so for a good long while.
Comments
But I for one would like to thank the emergency services of our area. From the police in there attempts to stop further injury, the hospital staff upon whom 3 lives now depend, the helicoper staff transporting casualties, even the media for doing all possible to inform people of the police advise to stay indoors.
I concur with Chris and Jim that the emergency services did a superb job and many people risked their lives in rescuing the injured. Such bravery is commendable. It is a pity that such tragedies sometimes have to occur to remind us of the higher human qualities.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this senseless murder, the injured and the friends and families in mourning.