Dunblane Massacre
| Dunblane massacre | |
|---|---|
Dunblane Primary School
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| Location | Dunblane, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 56°11′20″N 3°58′27″W / 56.1890°N 3.9743°WCoordinates: 56°11′20″N 3°58′27″W / 56.1890°N 3.9743°W |
| Date | 13 March 1996 c. 9:35 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. (GMT) |
| Target | Pupils and staff at Dunblane Primary School |
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Attack type
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School shooting, mass murder, murder–suicide |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 18 (including the perpetrator) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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15 |
| Perpetrator | Thomas Hamilton |
| Thomas Watt Hamilton | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
10 May 1952 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 13 March 1996 (aged 43) Dunblane |
| Occupation | Former shopkeeper |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
The Dunblane school massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in the UK's history, when gunman Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and one teacher at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, on 13 March 1996, before killing himself.
Public debate about the killings centred on gun control laws, including public petitions calling for a ban on private ownership of handguns and an official inquiry, which produced the Cullen Report (1996). In response to this debate, two new Firearms Acts were passed, which greatly restricted private ownership of firearms in Great Britain.
At about 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday 13 March 1996, Thomas Hamilton, aged 43, was seen scraping ice off his van outside his home at Kent Road in Stirling. He left soon afterwards and drove about 5 miles (8 km) north to Dunblane in his white van. He arrived on the grounds of Dunblane Primary School at around 9:30 a.m. and parked his van near to a telegraph pole in the car park of the school. Hamilton cut the cables at the bottom of the telegraph pole, which served nearby houses, with a set of pliers before making his way across the car park towards the school buildings.
Hamilton headed towards the north-west side of the school to a door near toilets and the school gymnasium. After entering, he made his way to the gymnasium armed with four legally held handguns—two 9mm Browning HP pistols and two Smith & Wesson M19 .357 Magnum revolvers. He was also carrying 743 cartridges of ammunition. In the gym was a class of twenty-eight Primary 1 pupils preparing for a PE lesson in the presence of three adult members of staff. Before entering the gymnasium, it is believed Hamilton fired two shots into the stage of the assembly hall and the girls' toilet. Upon entering the gymnasium, as he was about to be confronted by Eileen Harrild, the PE teacher in charge of the lesson, he started shooting rapidly and randomly. He shot Harrild, who was injured in her arms and chest as she attempted to protect herself, and continued shooting into the gymnasium. Harrild stumbled into the open-plan store cupboard at the side of the gym along with several injured children. Gwen Mayor, the teacher of the Primary 1 class, was shot and killed instantly. The other adult present, Mary Blake, a supervisory assistant, was shot in the head and both legs but also managed to make her way to the store cupboard with several of the children in front of her.
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