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04/06/2010
Cameron Visits Cumbria Slaughter Scene
While police are continuing to investigate what led troubled taxi driver Derrick Bird to shoot a dozen victims dead, the PM, David Cameron, has ruled out any immediate reaction over gun legislation.
Speaking ahead of his visit to the scene of carnage today Mr Cameron said on Thursday there should not be a "knee-jerk reaction" to changing gun ownership laws.
The PM is to head north to scenic Cumbria along with the Home Secretary Theresa May, where the pair are due to meet senior police officers.
The Prime Minister spoke out after Mrs May said the Government would "consider all the options" on gun laws, although she told MPs it would be "wrong to react before we know the full facts".
There will also be continuing questions over the length of time the murderer was able to continue his bloody spree as he moved from village to village for several hours, killing as he went.
Bird, 52, also wounded 11 people before shooting himself in the west of the county on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were killed in a bloody slaughter that took over three hours on Wednesday morning.
While the Prime Minister has said that Cumbria Police would be provided with extra funding for its investigation if necessary, there remains a question mark over the force's inability to prevent the killer striking again and again, after they first became aware of the situation.
Bird, from Rowrah in Cumbria, was the legal owner of both the shotgun and rifle he used in the killings.
Worries over tax affairs and a mixture of random killing and settling grudges seem today to have been behind the carnage.
At least three of the people he shot dead - his twin brother David, the family's solicitor Kevin Commons and fellow taxi driver Darren Rewcastle - were known to him.
He is thought to have first killed his brother in Lamplugh before returning to Frizington, where he opened fire on Mr Commons.
He then drove to Whitehaven where he shot Mr Rewcastle, before shooting the rest of his victims in seemingly indiscriminate attacks.
(BMcC/GK)
Speaking ahead of his visit to the scene of carnage today Mr Cameron said on Thursday there should not be a "knee-jerk reaction" to changing gun ownership laws.
The PM is to head north to scenic Cumbria along with the Home Secretary Theresa May, where the pair are due to meet senior police officers.
The Prime Minister spoke out after Mrs May said the Government would "consider all the options" on gun laws, although she told MPs it would be "wrong to react before we know the full facts".
There will also be continuing questions over the length of time the murderer was able to continue his bloody spree as he moved from village to village for several hours, killing as he went.
Bird, 52, also wounded 11 people before shooting himself in the west of the county on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were killed in a bloody slaughter that took over three hours on Wednesday morning.
While the Prime Minister has said that Cumbria Police would be provided with extra funding for its investigation if necessary, there remains a question mark over the force's inability to prevent the killer striking again and again, after they first became aware of the situation.
Bird, from Rowrah in Cumbria, was the legal owner of both the shotgun and rifle he used in the killings.
Worries over tax affairs and a mixture of random killing and settling grudges seem today to have been behind the carnage.
At least three of the people he shot dead - his twin brother David, the family's solicitor Kevin Commons and fellow taxi driver Darren Rewcastle - were known to him.
He is thought to have first killed his brother in Lamplugh before returning to Frizington, where he opened fire on Mr Commons.
He then drove to Whitehaven where he shot Mr Rewcastle, before shooting the rest of his victims in seemingly indiscriminate attacks.
(BMcC/GK)
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14 December 2009
Trafford Officer Tackles Gunman
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