Lidl worker who ‘plotted attack at school’ is shot by police where he ‘assembled bomb and gun stash’
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.
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.
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