Morbid Fact Du Jour For February 17, 2013

Today’s Unbearably Angry Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

On April 28, 1996, a lone gunman went on a shooting spree in Port Arthur, a quiet resort in Tasmania, best known as a former convict colony.  Before being captured, after a sixteen hour siege, Martin Bryant had killed thirty-five people and wounded another nineteen.  He was a disturbed young man who had been left a fortune by a widow for whom he had worked (and whom he was suspected of murdering).  The freedom conferred by the money had done nothing for his mental stability.  Bryant has provided conflicting and confused accounts of what led him to kill. It appears that it could be his desire for attention, as he allegedly told a next door neighbor, “I’ll do something that will make everyone remember me,” as well as mounting frustration as his social isolation had made him unbearably angry.

His first victims, David and Sally Martin, owned the bed and breakfast guest house “Seascape.” The Martins had bought the B & B that Bryant’s father had wanted to buy and he complained to his son about this. Bryant apparently believed the Martins had deliberately bought the property to hurt his family and blamed the Martins for the depression that led to his father’s death. He shot them in that guest house before traveling to the Port Arthur ruins. Bryant entered The Broad Arrow Café on the historical site’s grounds, carrying a large blue duffel bag. Upon sitting down to eat a meal in the front balcony area, he remarked “There’s a lot of wasps about today” to no one in particular. Once he finished, Bryant moved towards the back of the café and set a video camera on a vacant table. He took out a Colt AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and, firing from the hip, began shooting patrons and staff. Within 15 seconds, he had fired 17 shots, killing 12 people and wounding 10. Bryant then walked to the other side of the shop and fired 12 more times, killing another eight people while wounding two. He then changed magazines before fleeing, shooting at people in the car park and from his yellow Volvo sedan as he drove away; four were killed and an additional six were injured. Bryant drove three hundred meters down the road, to where a woman and her two children were walking. He stopped and fired two shots, killing the woman and the child she was carrying. The older child fled, but Bryant followed her and killed her with a single shot. He then stole a gold-colored BMW by killing all four of its occupants. A short distance down the road he stopped beside a couple in a white Toyota and, drawing his weapon, ordered the male occupant into the boot of the BMW. After shutting the boot, he fired two shots into the windscreen of the Toyota, killing the female driver. He returned to the guest house, set the stolen car alight and took his hostage inside with the Martins’ corpses. The police soon arrived and tried to negotiate with Bryant for many hours before the battery in the phone he was using died, ending communication. Bryant’s only demand was to be transported in an army helicopter to an airport. Sometime during the negotiations, Bryant killed his hostage.

The next morning, 18 hours later, Bryant set fire to the guest house and attempted to escape in the confusion. Suffering burns to his back and buttocks, he was captured and taken to Royal Hobart Hospital where he was treated and kept under heavy guard. Bryant was judged as fit to stand trial, and his trial was scheduled to begin 7 November 1996. Bryant initially pleaded not guilty, but was persuaded by his court-appointed lawyer and the prosecution to plead guilty to all charges. Two weeks later, Hobart Supreme Court Judge William Cox gave Bryant 35 life sentences for the murders plus 1035 years for other crimes, and ordered that he should remain in prison for the “rest of his life.” He continues to serve his sentence in the psychiatric wing of Risdon Prison in Hobart, Tasmania.

Culled from: The Mammoth Book of the History of Murder and Wikipedia

Okay, I know this is a tragic story and all but you gotta give the guy kudos for the body count. 17 shots fired, 10 wounded and 12 killed? This guy is the envy of spree killers the world over!