10 October 2023 , 15:34
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A gunman accused of plotting a 'Dunblane-style' massacre after detectives 'discovered a revenge' list in his home has passed it off as "fantasy".
Reed Wischhusen is accused of firearms and explosives charges after running at armed officers in his home armed with a weapon. It's after detectives visited his home in Somerset on November 28 last year having allegedly discovered intelligence he had bought blank weapons capable of being converted into working firearms.
But the 32-year-old meanwhile states his sole intention while running at police was to end his own life, saying he felt "trapped" after trying to take his life in his bathroom during the visit and wanted to appear a threat so officers would "finish the job". Wischhusen was shot three times in the incident, but survived and spent four months in hospital recovering.
Bodycam footage from police's visit to Wischhusen's house (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)Giving evidence at Bristol crown court on Tuesday, Wischhusen said: "I went downstairs and threatened them so they would shoot me dead and finish the job." The defendant added there was "no attempt to harm anyone else" in the incident and had no intention of actually shooting the officers.
The court heard details of Wischhusen's journal in the trial, detailing his obsession with guns and other explosives - alongside the "revenge document" with names the prosecution alleged he wanted to target. But Wischhusen denied there was any substance to the document, claiming they were just a "fantasy".
"I have never fired a bullet from any of the sub machine guns," he told the court. While acknowledging he had an interest in firearms, Wischhusen said he had simply "put my thoughts of how I was feeling onto paper" as a form of "psychological relief".
"I would throw a bucket of baked beans over [one of the named people's] front door in the middle of the night. That is the most I would do," he added. Wischhusen also said he had "no plans to carry out" scenarios outlined involving mass shootings at his old school and police headquarters.
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The court heard police visited after receiving 'intelligence' of a revenge hit-list, which the defendant has claimed was just a fantasy (Daniel Jae Webb / SWNS)
"It is just a fantasy. I wrote it down, just for relief," he said. Wischhusen said he only built his weapons as he wanted to "prove a point" after being rejected twice for a licence, denying claims he ever had intentions to make explosives or build a bomb.
He confirmed he saw a police amnesty on Facebook and said he dropped off some of his firearms there before the shooting - but kept hold of his sub-machine gun as he had "worked on it for year." He told the jury: "I was like 'here you go' to antagonise the police for refusing my gun licence many years ago. Like a scorned woman. Getting them back psychologically."
One of the guns recovered by police from Reed Wischhusen's home (Avon and Somerset Constabulary / SWNS)The defendant told the jury he had lost his mum when he was a young boy - which led to him thinking about taking revenge on doctors that treated her. As a child, he said he "blamed the hospital and wanted to shoot doctors dead", but ultimately did not act on it.
Wischhusen claimed he would "scour the internet" to find out stuff about mass suicide and mass poisonings as it was "so unusual for something to happen", and had previously suffered from depression since he was a young child that would keep coming back "once or twice a year."
Wischhusen survived after being shot by officers three times (Avon and Somerset Police / SWNS)He confirmed he had a "complete working homemade sub machine gun" that he had started building it in 2014 and was in working order by 2018 - but claimed he had "never tested it" and didn't know it was working. He said he also had a Glock 17 that was completely handmade "from scratch" that was handed into the police amnesty in May 2022, and another antique weapon "collecting dust".
He also acknowledged owning a partially-built rocket launcher designed to "launch chemical weapon" and "not an explosive charge", with a "fantasy" of launching it at the police. Wischhusen, from Wick St Lawrence near Weston-super-Mare, 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.
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