COLD BLOODED KILLERS (Killers from around the World) (15 page)

Unruh’s is considered to be the first single event of mass murder in U.S. history. He died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of eighty-eight. The incident became known as the Walk of Death.

- 18 - 
Michael Robert Ryan

On August 19
^th
, 1987, Michael Robert Ryan, twenty-seven, shot and killed sixteen people, and wounded another fifteen, before killing himself, in Hungerford, Berkshire, England.

Michael Ryan was born on May 18
^th
, 1960, to Alfred and Dorothy Ryan. He grew up in South View, Hungerford, where people remembered him as sullen and quiet. In school he was an underachiever and was never involved in social events or sports. After graduating, he attended college to become a building contractor, but soon dropped out and continued living with his parents. His mother would indulge him with anything he wanted: cars, insurance, gas, his first rifle. When Ryan was old enough, he purchased a shotgun and other weapons, which he proudly displayed in a glass cabinet in his bedroom. Ryan’s guns gave him the feeling of power and control that he had always needed but lacked.

Ryan would brag to people about his false exploits, making himself out to be far more talented and experienced than he actually was. He told people that he had served in the Second Parachute Regiment of the British Armed Forces, that he was getting married, and that he owned a gun shop. He would become exceedingly annoyed if people did not believe him, and his mother would often corroborate these lies to people in a frantic effort to help her son feel better.

He was obsessed with the military and purchased army jackets, survival gear, and masks. He even convinced the police to permit him a license to own more powerful firearms. They were unable to refuse him as he had no record of psychological instability and no criminal record; however, they specified that Ryan install a suitable Chubb steel cabinet in which to safely lock his weapons. Ryan also subscribed to magazines on endurance skills and guns, including
Soldiers of Fortune
, and was an admirer of violent films such as
Rambo: First Blood
. In 1985, when Ryan was twenty-five, his father died of cancer. The loss affected him intensely and he became more and more inhibited, frequently going off alone to the shooting range, or working on cars by himself. It was during this time that he lost his caretaker job at a girls’ school.

Just months before the massacre, Ryan joined the Tunnel Rifle and Pistol Club in Wiltshire. The manager later accounted that Ryan spent a lot of time at the club and that he was “a very good shot,” showing unswerving accuracy over large distances.

On December 11
^th
, 1986, Ryan was granted a firearms certificate which covered the ownership of two handguns. He later had the certificate amended to cover a third handgun in April of 1987. One month before the shooting, Ryan applied for another variance to cover two semi-automatic rifles, and that was approved on July 30
^th
. At the time of the shooting spree, he was in possession of, and fully licensed to own, the following weapons:

1 x Zabala Shotgun

1 x Browning Shotgun

1 x Beretta 92FS 9mm Semi-automatic Handgun

1 x CZ ORSO .32 Caliber Semi-automatic Handgun

1 x Type 56 7.62x39mm Semi-automatic Rifle

1 x M1 Carbine .30 7.62x33mm Semi-automatic Rifle

On August 19
^th
, 1987, in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, Michael Ryan, then twenty-seven, armed with his Beretta and both Semi-automatic rifles commenced his killing spree. At 12:30pm, Susan Godfrey, thirty-five, and her two little children, were approached by Ryan who told her to put the children in her car. He then took Susan into the nearby bushes and shot her fifteen times in the back. The Police arrived shortly after, but Ryan had already begun shooting at another location by that time.

He drove his silver Vauxhall Astra GTE to a gas station where he pumped gas and shot at the cashier, but missed her. He then entered the store and attempted to fire at her again at close range, but the magazine fell out from the Rifle; it’s believed he inadvertently hit the release mechanism. He left the gas station and continued towards Hungerford.

At about 12:45pm, Ryan was seen at his home in South View, Hungerford. After loading his Vauxhall Astra with his weapons, Ryan attempted to leave, but the car would not start. Ryan fired five shots into the back of his Vauxhall. Neighbors reported seeing him frantically moving between the house and the car before he returned indoors and killed his mother, Dorothy, sixty-one, and the family dog. Ryan then soaked his home with the fuel he had bought earlier in the day and set his house afire. The fire consequently destroyed three surrounding properties. He then removed the shotguns from the trunk of his car and went next door where he shot and killed husband and wife, Roland Mason, seventy, and Sheila Mason, sixty-nine, who were in their back garden. Sheila was shot once in the head and Roland six times in the back. Jack Gibbs, sixty-six, and his sixty-three year old invalid wife, Myrtle, were next to die.

On foot, Ryan roamed the streets firing at people. Marjorie Jackson was shot as she watched Ryan from the window of her living room, and fourteen year old Lisa Mildenhall was shot by Ryan in both legs as she stood outside her home. Mildenhall would recall that Ryan smiled at her before crouching and shooting. After pulling Dorothy Smith, seventy-seven, into her home, Marjorie Jackson telephoned George White, a colleague of her husband, Ivor Jackson. She informed Mr. White that she had been injured. Her husband insisted on returning home and George offered to drive him. On the trail towards the Common, Ryan encountered a family walking their dog. Upon seeing Ryan with his weapons, Kenneth Clements, fifty-one, raised his arms in a gesture of surrender as his family climbed over a wall and ran to safety. Ryan ignored the signal and killed Clements, who fell to the ground still clutching the leash of his dog.

Returning back to South View, Ryan fired twenty-three rounds at Officer Roger Brereton, who had just arrived at the scene in response to reports of gunfire. Brereton was hit four times and his car veered and crashed into a telephone pole. He died sitting in his patrol car, radioing to his colleagues that he had been shot. Ryan next turned his weapons on Linda Chapman and her teenage daughter, Alison, who had turned onto South View moments after Brereton was shot. Ryan fired eleven rounds from his semi-automatic into their Volvo 360; the bullets travelled through the bonnet of the car, hitting Alison in her right thigh. Ryan also shot through the windscreen, hitting Linda in the left shoulder. As Ryan reloaded his weapons, Linda reversed the car, exited South View, and drove to the local doctor's office, crashing into a tree outside the surgery. A bullet was found lodged at the base of Alison's spine. During an operation to remove it, surgeons decided that the risk of paralysis was too great, and the bullet was left in place.

Just after Linda and Alison Chapman had driven away, George White's Toyota drove towards Ryan, Ivor Jackson in the passenger seat. Ryan opened fire with his Type 56 Rifle, leaving White dead and Ivor Jackson brutally injured. White's Toyota crashed into the rear of Officer Brereton's Police Car. Ivor Jackson pretended to be dead and hoped that Ryan would not move in for a closer look.

Ryan continued on and came out on Fairview Road, killing Abdul Rahman Khan, eighty-four, who was mowing his lawn, and proceeded to shoot and injure his next door neighbour, Alan Lepetit. Ryan then shot at an ambulance which had just arrived, shattering the window and injuring emergency paramedic Hazel Haslett, but Haslett sped away before Ryan was able to fire at her again. A crowd had now gathered, and Ryan proceeded to fire at windows and shoot at people who appeared on the street. He then shot and wounded Mrs. Betty Tolladay who had stepped out of her house to rebuke Ryan; she had assumed Ryan had been shooting at paper targets in the woods.

The police were now informed about the happenstances in the neighborhood, but their evacuation plan was not fully successful. A police helicopter took off and followed Ryan's movements almost an hour after he set his home on fire, and was hindered by media helicopters and journalists responding to reports of the attacks. A single police officer managed to monitor Ryan and his artillery; he recommended that armed police be used as Ryan's armaments were beyond the capabilities of Hungerford Police Station's scant firearms locker. On Hungerford Common, Ryan went on to shoot and kill a young father of two, Francis Butler, twenty-six, as he walked his dog. He also shot at teenager Andrew Cadle, but missed the boy, allowing Cadle to speed away on his bicycle. Taxi- cab driver Marcus Barnard, thirty, slowed down his car as Ryan crossed in front of him. Michael shot him with the Type 56, causing massive damage to his head and killing him. Barnard had been detoured towards the Common by a police diversion as communication between ground forces and the police helicopter remained intermittent.

Ann Honeybone was wounded by a bullet
as she drove down Priory Avenue. Ryan then shot at John Storms, an ambulance repairman, who was parked on Priory Avenue, hitting him in the face. Storms crouched below the dashboard of his vehicle; he heard Ryan fire twice more at his van and felt the vehicle shake, but he was not hit again. A local builder named Bob Barclay ran from his nearby house and dragged Storms out of his van and into the safety of his home.

Ryan then walked towards the town center of Hungerford where police were attempting to evacuate the public. During his walk, Ryan killed Douglas Wainwright, sixty-seven, and injured his wife, Kathleen, while they were in their car. Kathleen Wainwright would later say that her husband hit the brakes as soon as the windshield shattered. Ryan fired eight rounds into the Wainwright’s vehicle, hitting Douglas in the head and Kathleen in the chest and hand. Mrs. Wainwright, seeing that her husband was dead, and that Ryan was approaching the car and reloading, unbuckled her seatbelt and ran from the car. The couple had been in town visiting their son, a policeman on the Hungerford force. Kevin Lance was next to be shot; he was hit in the upper arm as he drove his Ford Transit along Tarrant's Hill.

Further up Priory Avenue, handyman Eric Vardy, fifty-one, and his passenger, Steven Ball, drove into Ryan's path while travelling to a job in Vardy's Leyland Sherpa. Ball later recalled that he saw a young man, Kevin Lance, clutching his arm and running into a narrow side street. As Mr. Ball focused on Lance, Ryan shattered the windshield with a burst of bullets. Eric Vardy was hit twice in the neck and upper torso and crashed his van into a wall. Mr. Vardy would later die of shock and hemorrhage from his neck wound. Steven Ball suffered no serious injuries. Throughout his movements, Ryan had also opened fire on a number of other people, some of whom were grazed or wounded. Many of these minor casualties were not counted in the eventual total.

At about 1:30pm, an hour after starting his shooting spree, Ryan crossed Orchard Park Close into Priory Road, firing a single round at a passing red Renault 5. This shot killed the twenty-two year old driver, Sandra Hill. A passing soldier, Carl Harries, rushed to Hill's car and attempted to apply first aid, but Sandra Hill died in his arms. After shooting Hill, Ryan continued to shoot his way into a house further down the Road, killing the occupants, Victor Gibbs, sixty-six, and his wheelchair-bound wife, Myrtle. Ryan also fired shots into neighboring houses from the Gibbs' house, injuring Michael Jennings and Mrs. Myra Geater.