Reed Wischhusen: Gunman who plotted mass killing at school jailed for life
Watch Robert Murphy's report here.
A man who planned a mass killing at a school in Somerset has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years’ imprisonment.
The 32-year-old was found guilty of a string of firearms offences following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Wischhusen wrote of a hitman-style attack and listed several people he planned to kill and why from his "house of horrors".
He also plotted to spare people so they would live with "survivor's guilt".
The document, made up of 1,700 words and spanning four A4 pages, detailed how he would carry out three phases. He claimed it was “fantasy”.
The first phase was a hitman-style attack on 10 people, disguising himself with an outfit and wig. Then he would go to his former school, shoot teachers and throw pipe bombs.
He identified six former classmates who he accused of bullying him – throwing his schoolwork in the shower, calling him names, and threatening him.
He also singled out a teacher who he felt did not do enough to stop the bullying.
Wischhusen’s final phase contained two options, both involving detonating bombs and shooting police at Avon and Somerset Police’s headquarters in Portishead, before taking his own life.
He named a number of police staff who rejected his applications for a firearms licence and made reference to one police employee who he said refused him twice and the fact he knew where they lived.
Investigating officers from Avon and Somerset Police later discovered he had paid to establish the member of police staff’s home address.
Wischhusen wrote about how another police employee had told him he had “child-like views of the world” and became “obsessed and fixated and [was] unable to handle rejection”. He added he would “let them go, let them have survivor’s guilt”.
Wischhusen also cited a failed attempt to become a Special Constable in the document. His application was refused in 2011 due to concerns about his behaviour towards other members of the public and having been twice rejected for a firearms licence.
The infamous mass casualty attacks in Oklahoma, Dunblane and Columbine were all referenced in the document and in addition to revenge, gaining notoriety for his own attacks was also seemingly part of his motive.
“This would make national news, even international,” he wrote.
Ending the document with: “It has to happen, regardless.”
Police say Wischhusen compiled an armoury of weapons including pistols, sub-machine guns and a shotgun, as well as ammunition, bombs, grenades and poison in his "house of horrors".