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The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Wiltshire and Berkshire, United Kingdom, which occurred on 19 August 1987 when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot and killed sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before killing himself. No firm motive for the killings has been established.
Michael Wayne Ryan (August 3, 1948 – May 24, 2015) was an American convicted murderer, Christian Identity cult leader, and white supremacist.
Feb 24, 2019 · Michael Wayne Ryan was a cult leader who claimed to speak to Yahweh and ordered his followers to commit atrocities in Nebraska. Learn how he manipulated, abused and killed his victims, and how he was finally arrested and convicted.
- Benjamin H. Smith
- 2 min
Learn about the life and crimes of Michael Ryan, who killed 16 people and wounded 15 others in a shooting spree in Hungerford, England, in 1987. Find out how he obtained his weapons, why he committed the massacre, and what happened after the tragedy.
- Overview
- IN-DEPTH
A man who had spent three decades on Nebraska's death row for the 1985 cult killings of two people, including a 5-year-old boy, has died in prison, officials said Monday.
Michael Ryan died around 5:45 p.m. Sunday at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a news release Monday. Tecumseh prison spokeswoman Jessica Houseman did not have a cause of death but said an autopsy would be performed.
At a hearing in March about legislation to repeal the state's death penalty, state Sen. Ernie Chambers said Ryan had terminal brain cancer. Houseman would say only that Ryan was being treated for a long-term medical condition.
Ryan was convicted in the torture and killing of 26-year-old James Thimm at a southeast Nebraska farm near Rulo, where Ryan led a cult, and in the beating death of Luke Stice, the 5-year-old son of a cult member. Ryan has been on death row since Sept. 12, 1985.
Over three days, Thimm was beaten, sexually abused, shot, stomped and partially skinned while still alive. His fingertips had been shot off on one hand. Ryan told his followers that he heard the voice of God.
Ryan's son, Dennis Ryan, and cult member Timothy Haverkamp were sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder in Thimm's death. Authorities said Dennis Ryan delivered the gunshot that killed Thimm after a month of torture.
•Nebraska Lawmakers Vote to Abolish Death Penalty
— The Associated Press
The two heartbroken 20-year-old twins of slain Oshawa cabbie Michael Ryan say they cannot bear to attend Tuesday’s preliminary hearing for the man accused of killing their father.
Michael Ryan, 27, shot dead 14 people and injured 16 others in Hungerford, Berkshire, on 19 August 1987. He was a "loner" and a "gun fanatic" who killed his mother and a police officer before committing suicide.
