Michael Robert Ryan
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Michael Robert Ryan (May 18th, 1960 - August 19th, 1987) was the perpetrator of the Hungerford Massacre, one of the worst mass shootings in the UK's history. Ryan was believed to be suffering from schizophrenia and had amassed a collection of firearms, including an AK clone while they were legal to own in the United Kingdom. Using these weapons, he took the lives of sixteen people over the course of a sporadic rampage which culminated in his own suicide.
Ryan was an unemployed labourer and antiques dealer. He was born at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough, Wiltshire, near Hungerford, Berkshire, on 18 May 1960. His father, Alfred Henry Ryan (born January 6, 1905), was 55 years old when Michael was born. Alfred died in Swindon in May 1985 at the age of 80. At the time of the shooting, Ryan lived with his mother, Dorothy (born May 17, 1924), a dinner lady at the local primary school. He had no siblings. There was extensive press comment on this, suggesting the relationship was "unhealthy" and that Ryan was "spoiled" by his mother. A Guardian headline described Ryan as a "mummy's boy". Ryan was a bachelor and had no children.
Ryan's true motives may never be known as he killed himself and his mother, the only other person who knew him well. Dr John Hamilton of Broadmoor Hospital and Dr Jim Higgins, a consultant forensic psychiatrist for Mersey Regional Health Authority, both thought he was schizophrenic and psychotic. Hamilton stated, "Ryan was most likely to be suffering from acute schizophrenia. He might have had a reason for doing what he did, but it was likely to be bizarre and peculiar to him." The local vicar, the Reverend David Salt, said on the first anniversary of the massacre, "No one has ever explained why Michael Ryan did what he did. And that's because, in my opinion, it is not something that can be explained." Ryan's body was cremated at the Reading Crematorium on 3 September 1987, 15 days after the massacre.
22 years later in 2009, a similar shooting happened when 28-year-old Michael McLendon went on a killing spree in Geneva County, Alabama before killing himself.