SEASCALE, England — A taxi driver drove his vehicle on a shooting spree across a tranquil stretch of northwest England yesterday, methodically killing 12 people and wounding 25 before turning the gun on himself.
The rampage in the county of Cumbria was Britain’s deadliest mass shooting since 1996 and it jolted a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare.
The body of the suspected gunman, 52- year-old Derrick Bird, was found in woods near Boot, a hamlet popular with hikers and vacationers in England’s hilly, scenic Lake District. Police said two weapons were recovered from the scene.
Eight of the wounded were in the hospital, with three of them in critical condition. Queen Elizabeth II said she shared in “the grief and horror of the whole country” and passed on her sympathy to the families of the victims.
Police said it was too early to say what the killer’s motive was. Some reports said Bird had quarreled with fellow cabdrivers the night before the killings.
Peter Leder, a taxi driver who knew Bird, said he had seen the gunman Tuesday and was struck by Bird’s departing words.
“When he left, he said, ‘See you, Peter, but I won’t see you again,’ ” Leder told Channel 4 News.
The first shootings were reported in the coastal town of Whitehaven, 350 miles northwest of London. Witnesses said the dead there included two of Bird’s fellow cabbies.
Police warned residents to stay indoors as they tracked the killer’s three-hour progress across the county. Witnesses saw the gunman driving around shooting from the window of his car.
There were 30 separate crime scenes. Many bodies remained on the ground late yesterday, covered with sheets. Barrie Walker, a doctor who certified one of the deaths, said victims had been shot in the face, apparently with a shotgun.
Lyn Edwards, 59, saw one victim who was shot in his car. “I could see a man screaming and I could see blood,” she said.
Deadly shootings are rare in Britain. Rules on gun ownership were tightened after a maniac killed 16 children and a teacher at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996.