Michael Robert Ryan, on 19 August1987, armed with several weapons including an AK-47rifle, went on a mass murder spree that became known as the Hungerford massacre and led to major changes to firearms law in the United Kingdom following the Hungerford Report. Ryan's spree culminated in a siege at his former school, where he endured much bullying as a boy. At 6:52, police reported hearing a slightly muffled gunshot from inside the building. After making the decision to enter the school, they found Ryan in one of the classrooms behind a file cabinet and some chairs, dead from a self-inflicted wound. He had used the last bullet in his weapon. The killing spree lasted fifteen minutes, and Ryan claimed the lives of seventeen people, including his mother, while wounding fourteen others in the process. File links The following pages link to this file: Hungerford Massacre Michael Robert Ryan ... File links The following pages link to this file: Hungerford Massacre Michael Robert Ryan ... August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 g. ... A rifle is a firearm that uses a spiral groove cut into the barrel to spin a projectile (usually a bullet), thus improving accuracy and range of the projectile. ... The Hungerford Massacre was a shooting that occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, the United Kingdom on August 19, 1987. ... Detailed background of Ryans possession of firearms Shotgun Certificate Ryan was first granted a Thames Valley Shotgun Certificate on 2 February 1978. ...
The son of a successful building contractor, Ryan was born in Chicago in 1909 and attended Dartmouth College, where one of his fraternity brothers was Nelson Rockefeller.
Ryan finally had his chance to write as a member of a theater company in Chicago, but proved unsuccessful and turned to acting.
Even during the late '40s, Ryan was never bashful about his belief in liberal causes, and was a highly vocal supporter of the so-called "Hollywood Ten" at a time when most other movie professionals -- fearful for their livelihoods -- had abandoned them.
Ryan then drove in his car, a Vauxhall Astra, from the forest along the A4 towards Hungerford and stopped at a petrol station three miles (5 km) away from the town.
Ryan again tried to shoot her at close range, but the magazine holding the bullets fell out of the gun, probably because he inadvertantly hit the release mechanism.
Ryan lived alone with his mother, who was a dinner lady at the local primary school; there was extensive press comment on this suggesting the relationship was 'unhealthy' and that Ryan was 'spoiled'.
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