Gunman kills several in Cumbria rampage

[kentauros]

Source: BBC News

Police say a body, believed to be that of suspect Derrick Bird, has been found in the Boot area of the Lake District.

The first reported fatal shooting was in Whitehaven at 1035 BST, after which the gunman fled east.

A GP in the town of Seascale said he and a colleague had later certified two other people dead.

Dr Barrie Walker said: "The surgery was called and I went out. I've certified one of them dead. My colleague saw another," he said.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/10214661.stm

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The UK Guardian has a bit more information story on this, too:
Police end Cumbria manhunt after body is found

[onehandle]

1. 'Multiple shootings are rare in Britain, where gun ownership is tightly restricted...'

'...and handguns are banned.'

True. You rarely hear about events like this in the UK. Sadly, not so rare in the United States. Often with much bigger body counts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100602/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_shooting_1

[krispos42]

2. BBC now reporting 12 killed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/10216179.stm

[onehandle]

3. NOW it sounds like an American killing spree.

Still, we've had bigger body counts.

And there are three times as many gun deaths in the United States as there are in the United Kingdom per capita.

USA! USA! USA!

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[krispos42]

5. Oh, it's probably a lot higher than 3:1

The overall homicide rate is about 3:1, US vs UK. About 2/3rds of hour homicides are with guns, and only a small fraction (I forget exactly) are gun-related in the UK.

It simply means that "other" accounts for a lot higher percentage of UK murders than US murders.

[Recursion]

6. Interesting, though, that UK rates have been rising, and US rates falling

At least for a couple of decades or so.

[The Straight Story]

7. If only they had tough gun laws there

Oh wait.