Dramatic bodycam footage shows moment officers shoot man accused of plotting mass killing
ITV West Country's Rob Murphy reports on the dramatic CCTV footage of the moment police officers shot and arrested Reed Wischhusen
Dramatic bodycam footage shows the moment police officers shot and arrested a Lidl warehouse worker accused of plotting a mass shooting.
The video was shown at Bristol Crown Court where Reed Wischhusen, 32, is standing trial accused of plotting a mass shooting at his former school in North Somerset as part of a "revenge plan".
The former warehouse worker is alleged to have spent years amassing an armoury of guns and explosives to take revenge on former classmates, current employers and staff at Avon and Somerset Police. He claims this was “fantasy”.
Watch the footage of the shooting played in court
The court heard how police officers attended Wischhusen’s house, which he shared with his father, in Wick St Lawrence in November 2022 following reports of him converting blank firearms.
Four officers – two neighbour officers and two armed officers – carried out a brief examination of the semi-detached property and found several weapons, as well as body armour and a deactivated hand grenade.
The officers decided comprehensive search was needed and the Lidl warehouse worker would be arrested.
In the footage, Wischhusen is then seen asking to go to the bathroom. One officer follows him up the stairs and shortly after he goes inside the room, a gunshot it heard.
The armed officer runs down the stairs telling colleagues to "withdraw" before Wischhusen can be seen coming down the stairs.
“He had handgun and pointed directly at me," one of the officers told the jury today.
The officer said he thought he was going to die during the incident, in which Wischhusen was shot three times. He spent four months in hospital.
The jury has previously been told Wischhusen was fascinated with mass shootings and infamous killers such as Dunblane gunman Thomas Hamilton and Raoul Moat.
Jurors heard phase one of Wischhusen’s alleged revenge plan was to kill 10 people using a converted pistol with a silencer while wearing disguised clothing and a wig. The defendant says the plans were "fantasy".
Wischhusen, of Wick Road, Wick St Lawrence, denies charges of having an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, having an explosive substance, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life and possessing a prohibited firearm without a certificate.
The trial continues.