MARTIN BRYANT
MARTIN BRYANT 7 May 1967 PORT ARTHUR MASSACRE 28/29 April 1996 Martin Bryant is an Australian mass murderer who shot and killed 35 people and left 23 injured at Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia at the penal colony tourist site. Bryant was known to have been childish and unpredictable, there is also the possibility that he had killed his father and his 54-year-old wealthy friend, and gained a lot of money from it. His parents were worried about what their son could potentially do, Bryant said that his father once warned him, “He used to point to it [prison], he said if you ever go over there, Martin, to that prison any time, I’m not gonna ever come and visit you, he said. So stay away, stay out of trouble.” On Sunday, 28 April 1996, Bryant went to the Port Arthur tourist site, there was video evidence of him and his vehicle (yellow Volvo with a surfboard on top) at the site that day. Many witnesses who survived identified Bryant at the crime scene. He was witnessed having a meal at the Broad Arrow Café before taking out his weapon out of his bag and then started killing. One survivor said that Bryant said to him, ‘No-one gets away from me’ before pulling the trigger. Afterward, Bryant left the café and went down to the bus park, one witness stated that before he shot her ‘He looked at me with this silly grin’, wounded she ran and hid behind a bus and then made it to the guard house where staff members helped her. He then stole a BMW, shot the four occupants and then drove to a service station, and forced a victim into the boot of his BMW (which he admitted, ‘that was bad’). He then drove to Seascape B&B, took hostage the owners, and was captured after escaping the burning building with his clothes on fire. The two weapons he used were legal in Tasmania, but he didn’t have a license - he admitted having a love of firearms. He was familiar with the Port Arthur tourist site, visiting there often and walking his dogs there. Whilst being questioned, Bryant admitted he killed the victims, ‘I’m sure you’ll find the person who caused all this. Me’ as he pointed to himself. Bryant didn’t realize that he was being video recorded at the time and when the officer told him he was, Bryant replied, ‘I must need a lawyer then.’ Bryant will spend the rest of his life in prison.
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