ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PORT ARTHUR, AUSTRALIA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: lede
A gunman slaughtered at least 32 people at a popular tourist site and nearby pub Sunday afternoon, police said. A suspect was captured today when he bolted in flames from a guest cottage, which police said he had torched with three hostages inside.
The gunman, whom police identified as a 29-year-old with a history of psychological problems, opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle Sunday on tourists at the ruins of a colonial prison on Tasmania.
It was Australia's worst shooting massacre this century.
Police indicated they expected to find the bodies of three more victims inside the guest cottage, where he took took them hostages and held police at bay for 12 hours.
Witnesses said the blond man drove up to the prison with a surfboard strapped atop his car and talked casually with some of the 500 people outside.
``He said, `There's a lot of WASPs around today, there's not many Japs here, are there?' and then started muttering to himself,'' a survivor, who was not identified, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The man then walked into a cafe, pulled the rifle from a tennis bag, and methodically started shooting.
``He wasn't going bang-bang-bang-bang - it was `bang,' and then he'd pick someone else out and line them up and shoot them,'' witness Phillip Milburn told Australian Broadcasting.
The gunman moved on to a pub, killing more people. He seized a hostage at a gas station and stole a car to drive three miles to a bed-and-breakfast cottage, owned by a couple who apparently were friends of his late father's. The Age newspaper of Melbourne identified them as David and Sally Martin.
Police tried to negotiate by phone with the gunman, who fired two heavy-caliber military-type rifles from inside the cottage at them and at helicopters carrying the dead and wounded. He demanded a helicopter for himself.
After he set the cottage on fire, flames finally drove him from the building. He threw his rifle aside.
``His clothing was on fire, and he started taking his clothing off,'' said police Superintendent Bob Fielding.
Exploding ammunition in the burning house prevented officers from searching it to learn the fate of the three hostages. ``It doesn't look very good,'' Fielding said.
Police said 25 of those killed in the shooting spree were Australians, but the dead also included two Malaysians and a victim who appeared to be Indian. Four people weren't identified.
Among the dead was an infant, as well as two sisters, 3 and 6 years old, and their mother. Earlier reports that two Canadians were killed could not be verified.
State gun laws vary in Australia, but it is fairly easy to buy a rifle or shotgun. Pistols are less commonly owned. Tasmania has one of the most lax gun laws in the nation.
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