UK man goes on shooting spree in rural area of northwest England; several killed

UK man goes on shooting spree in rural England

LONDON — A taxi driver went on a shooting spree across a picturesque rural area of northwestern England on Wednesday, killing several people and wounding others before police discovered the suspect’s body in a wooded area.

Officers have found a body believed to be that of 52-year-old Derrick Bird in woods near the Lake District village of Boot, Cumbria police said. A gun was found alongside the body.

Police say there have been “a number of fatalities” as well as several injuries after shots were fired Wednesday in the small town of Whitehaven and nearby Seascale and Egremont, about 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of London.

Britain’s Press Association news agency said at least four people were feared dead. The BBC reported there had been shootings in 11 locations.

“I can confirm that we’ve found a body in a wooded area near Boot which we believe to be Mr. Bird, together with a firearm,” Cumbria police Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde said. “A formal identification will be made later.”

Witness Alan Hannah told the Whitehaven News that he saw a man with a shotgun in a car near a taxi stand in Whitehaven, about 200 miles (325 kilometers) northwest of London. Witnesses said a body, covered in a sheet, was lying in the street.

Local lawmaker Jamie Reed said the area was in shock.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen in our part of the world,” he told the BBC. “We have got one of the lowest, if not the lowest, crime rates in the country.”

Multiple shootings are rare in Britain, where gun ownership is tightly restricted and handguns are banned.

In 1987, gun enthusiast Michael Ryan killed 16 people in the English town of Hungerford. In 1996, Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and a teacher at a kindergarten in Dunblane, Scotland.

(This version CORRECTS distance from London.)