Moment Lidl worker who ‘plotted attack at school' is shot by police at home where he 'assembled bomb and gun stash’
5 October 2023, 15:35
This is the shocking moment a shop worker who is accused of planning an attack on a primary school is shot by police at home after threatening them with a gun.
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Reed Wischhusen, 32, was filmed on cops' body-worn cameras rushing down towards them at his home in Somerset with the weapon.
Wishchusen, who is on trial for weapons charges, told Bristol Crown Court that he was trying to end his life by provoking the armed officers into killing him when he ran at them with the pistol.
Officers had come to the house Wischhusen shared with his father, where they found several weapons, as well as body armour and a deactivated hand grenade.
In footage played to the jury, Wishchusen can be seen talking to officers. He then goes upstairs, and a shot can be heard while Wischhusen is in the bathroom. This was him shooting himself in a failed suicide attempt.
Moment Lidl worker who ‘plotted attack at primary school is shot by cops at home where he assembled bomb & gun arsenal’
He then runs downstairs while pointing his gun at the officers, before they fired three shots at him. He survived, spending four months in hospital before his arrest.
In a prepared statement, Wischhusen said: "I make this statement knowing it may be given in evidence. This was a suicide attempt. I've always had suicidal thoughts.
"When in the bathroom I shot myself in the head, trying to kill myself. I ran at the officers hoping they would kill me. I have nothing further to say."
In further interviews the defendant confirmed he had thought about shooting himself "since he was small".
Wischhusen told detectives he had a "passion for firearms and weapons" and was a member of a gun club and shot regularly.
The gun he used on the day of his arrest he had converted to fire live ammunition, which he had done to "get back" at the firearms licensing department that refused his shotgun application, he told police.
"He denied any intention to hurt anybody - police, members of the public and people from the past," Jonathan Rees KC, prosecuting, told the jury.
The jury has previously been told Wischhusen was fascinated with mass shootings and infamous killers such as Dunblane gunman Thomas Hamilton and Raoul Moat, who went on a rampage in the north-east of England.
Prosecutors claim Wischhusen had drawn up plans to carry out a "hitman-style attack" on his former school in a document he had called "Revenge".
Jurors heard phase one of Wischhusen's alleged revenge plan was to kill ten people using a converted pistol with a silencer while wearing disguised clothing and a wig.
Wischhusen told detectives: "With regard to the document in my computer called 'Revenge', it's a fantasy story.
"I accept it is not the most reasoned piece of thinking and includes me killing myself twice, but I have absolutely no intention of doing anything about it.
"I wrote it to amuse myself. I repeat I have never harmed anyone at any time in my life and have never wanted to harm anyone else."
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.
