With blood running down his face, he could only watch through half-closed eyes as Dorothy Ryan, Michaels mother, arrived home from the Wednesday market. Lepetit had heard about shooting in his neighbourhood and was hurrying home to check on his family. "He was dead after all. The Round Table helped by providing funds for taxis, rents, television rentals and other services. In a further twist of fate, the local police helicopter was in for repair but police mechanics eventually made it ready for flight and it was deployed at around the time Ryan shot his mother. ]]> At about 16:45, police entered the playground. Their friend George White, who worked with Ivor, said he'd drive him home. The birds didn't sing again for five days.". He was making his way to a part-time gardening job in the nearby village of Inkpen. There was a police guard on the front door so he had sneaked through the garden and into the house through the back door. A few moths before the massacre, Ryan joined the Tunnel Rifle and Pistol Club, in Wiltshire. Hungerford is a big shooting area, farmers and gun clubs and that sort of thing. Having created a fort for himself in the Gibbs home, Ryan fired at neighbouring houses, injuring a man at number 62 and a woman at number 67 Priory Road.Ian Playle, a 34-year-old clerk to the Justices at Newbury Magistrates Court, had brought his wife, Elizabeth, and their two young children, Richard and Sarah, to Hungerford on a shopping trip. If there is a shooting elsewhere in the world, he braces himself for his phone to ring. Instead, Sgt Ryan said: "I dont know how to tell you this. Ryan was well-known for driving "like a bat out of hell" - the only time he had been in trouble with the police was for breaking the speed limit. I thought he'd come in and kill them.". As they drove up Tarrants Hill, their windscreen was shattered by a spray of bullets and Vardy was hit twice, under the chin and in the torso. Fifteen other people were also shot but survived. The fact was that they were prevented from entering the danger zone, for fear of being shot themselves. Cash and cheques poured in from well-wishers, some even from children, and a Tragedy Fund was established, in collaboration with Lloyds TSB, Barclays and NatWest, the three banks in Hungerford. This powerful mix of emotions is often later expressed in an inappropriately violent response. A groundsheet was found nearby, which could have been laid by Ryan in order to contain DNA evidence. In a small village 60 miles west of London, at 12:30 in the afternoon, 27-year-old Michael Ryan shoots a mother dead. I probably did three or four of these checks a week. Whenever they asked me where it all happened I'd say it was down the A4. The Jacksons remember him as being a model-railway enthusiast and "a lovely man who would help you with anything". It was a good day to spend in the garden - hot and sunny. In 1987, Michael Ryan committed a killing spree that left sixteen dead and sixteen injured. Armed with three guns, he had already murdered six people and seriously injured seven more. Why are you doing this?. He told his wife to stay indoors with the little girl she was babysitting and headed off to Hungerford town centre, first to a newsagent to buy some maps and then to the police station. I thought I was safe.". South View became a popular haunt for tourists. 12 - Sandra Hill At age 11, he moved from the local primary school opposite his home, to the John OGaunt Secondary School, where he underachieved academically and would often play truant. Ryans school friend remembers his mother would buy the boy whatever he wanted, but his father "couldnt be played" and "wore the trousers" in the house. She ducked below her counter just as a bullet pierced the safety glass above it and ricocheted through the small shop behind her. Just after midday, on 19 August 1987, the 27-year-old unemployed Ryan entered a secluded area of Savernake Forest. I mean, there's no legitimate reason anyone would need to have a Kalashnikov - but it was legal. He was still labouring under the impression that there might have been a shooting accident. However, the jovial atmosphere was soon to be shattered and peoples lives changed forever.Savernake Forest, a popular recreational area seven miles from Hungerford, was a favourite haunt of Ryans, where he would spend great deals of time pretending to be on army manoeuvres. Both recreational and agricultural shooting were normal occurrences in the area. I still get dreadful pain in my back. ', "She told me to get my arse straight down there. The John O'Gaunt School where shooter Michael Robert Ryan killed himself. There was no way he would miss. He pulled the wheeled stretcher with him and managed to load both Mr and Mrs Jackson and Lisa Mildenhall into the ambulance. "They couldnt cope. Sandra Hill, was shot while driving; Jack and Myrtle Gibbs, were shot in their home in Priory Road; and Ian Playle was shot while driving into Hungerford on a shopping trip with his wife and two children. The Hungerford Report The British Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, travelled to Hungerford on Sunday, 23 August 1987. He wounded a further 15 before turning the gun on himself. He needed numerous operations and still suffers, both physically and mentally. Popular cab driver, Marcus Bernard, 30, was en route to visit his wife and newborn son in the local hospital. It was calculated that during the most intense period of Ryans rampage, he had killed an average of one person per minute. After the murders, though, visitors were less satisfied by remaining in the attractive main street. The incident prompted the government to change gun laws, banning semi-automatic and pump-action rifles. Sandra Hill, who'd moved away from the town, was visiting former school friends. The Hungerford Report confirmed that Ryans weapons had been legally licenced. He then asked the time and was silent for a while. Your dad's been shot. "She was dead on the ground, on her front just by the drive of our house. Even now Mr Jackson has not been back to South View. Lisa Mildenhall had been in the garden with her sister and two children from another house. But it appears she never contradicted him in public. Ryan looked at her with extremely vacant eyes and a strange grin, before moving off eastwards along a footpath leading to Hungerford Common. On 8 October 1987, a memorial and rededication service was held for the town of Hungerford. Meanwhile, a police officer had noticed Godfreys empty car with open doors and had gone to investigate. ", Several of Derek and Mary Whiting's relatives were shot. As he went along Priory Road, Ryan stopped at the home of Myrtle and Victor Gibbs, whose door was, as usual, locked. [CDATA[// >
michael ryan hungerford