Cumbria shootings

The Cumbria shootings was a shooting spree which occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, taxi driver Derrick Bird, killed twelve people and injured eleven others in Cumbria, England, United Kingdom. Along with the 1987 Hungerford massacre and the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, it is one of the worst criminal acts involving firearms in British history. The shootings ended when Bird killed himself in a wooded area after abandoning his car in the village of Boot.

In 2007, Bird was beaten unconscious by four men who tried to run instead of paying him for taxi services. Friends said he changed after the attack. It was reported that Bird had previously sought help from a local hospital due to his fragile mental state, although these reports were unconfirmed. He had held a shotgun certificate since 1974 and had renewed it several times, most recently in 2005, and had held a firearms certificate for a rifle from 2007 onward. Bird was being investigated by HM Revenue and Customs at the time of the shooting. His body was formally identified at Furness General Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness, and he was cremated at a private service on 18 June 2010.

Prime Minister David Cameron was joined by several other MPs in expressing the House of Commons members' shock and horror at the events during Prime Minister's Questions. Home Secretary Theresa May expressed her regret at the deaths and paid tribute to the response of the emergency services. The Cabinet met to discuss the shootings and May later made a statement on the Cumbria incident to the House of Commons on 3 June 2010. Cameron and May visited the affected region on 4 June 2010 to meet victims, officials and local people. Jamie Reed (Labour), the local MP for Copeland, called the incident the "blackest day in our community's history".

On the evening of 2 June, Queen Elizabeth II said she was "deeply shocked" by the shootings and shared the nation's "grief and horror". Prince Charles visited Whitehaven on 11 June 2010 to meet members of the community affected by the tragedy.

BBC One altered their programming to broadcast two BBC News specials about the shootings, at 14:15 and 19:30 on the same day. Transmissions of ITV soap Coronation Street were cancelled on 2, 3, and 4 June as the scheduled broadcast was a week-long special involving a violent storyline featuring a gun siege in a factory. The episodes were aired the following week. An edition of the Channel 4 panel game You Have Been Watching, which was due to be broadcast on 3 June 2010, was postponed because it was a crime special.

On 9 June 2010, a week after the incident, memorial services were held in the West Cumbria towns affected by the shootings followed by a minute's silence at midday. Soon after the minute's silence taxi drivers on Duke Street sounded their horns for one minute to show their respect. The minute's silence for the Cumbria victims was also marked prior to David Cameron's second Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament. The funerals of the majority of Bird's victims were held at various churches in West Cumbria.

It has also been speculated that Bird had been involved with a family dispute over his father's will, after his death in 1998. The speculation was heightened when it was revealed that he had targeted and killed both his twin, David, and the family's solicitor, Kevin Commons, in his attacks.

At 15:00, during his first session of Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron confirmed that "at least five" people had died, including the gunman. Over the next few hours, Bird's shooting of his brother and solicitor was announced. Later that evening, a police press conference in Whitehaven announced that 12 people had been killed, that a further 11 people were injured, three of them critically, and that the suspect had killed himself. They also confirmed that two weapons (a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun and a .22-calibre rifle with a scope and silencer) had been used by the suspect in the attacks, and that 30 crime scenes were being investigated. The shootings were considered the worst mass-casualty shooting incident in the UK since the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, which left 18 people dead. A report later determined that Bird fired at least 47 rounds during the shootings (29 from his shotgun, 18 from his .22 rifle). Six live .22 rounds were also found on Bird's person, with an additional eight loaded in the rifle. A search in Bird's home later recovered over 750 rounds of live .22 ammunition, 240 live shotgun shells, and a large amount of financial paperwork.

There has been speculation that Bird may have had a grudge against people associated with the Sellafield nuclear power plant where he had worked as a joiner, resigning in 1990 following an allegation of theft of wood from the plant. He was subsequently convicted and given a twelve-month suspended sentence. Three of the dead were former plant employees, although there is no evidence that any were involved with his resignation.

Derrick Bird (27 November 1957 – 2 June 2010) was born to Mary (née Sims) and Joseph Bird (died 1998). He had a twin brother, David, and an older brother, Brian, who was six years older than Derrick and David. He lived alone in Rowrah, Cumbria, and had two sons with a woman from whom he had separated in the mid-1990s. He became a grandfather in May 2010, and was described as a quiet, popular man who worked as a self-employed taxi driver in Whitehaven.