A tragic story is unfolding in the North of England with a gunman on
the run after killing one person and seriously injuring two more (his
ex-girlfriend and a traffic policeman) following his release from prison
last Friday.
Obviously, the police are doing everything to apprehend Raoul Moat
safely without any further loss of life. However, as Moat claims he has
‘lost everything' and is determined to ‘wage war on the police', it's
not clear this episode will reach a peaceful conclusion.
On Tuesday, the town of Rothbury was locked down; a two mile exclusion
zone was put in place, schools were closed and residents were told to
stay indoors as Northumbria police thought they were closing in on the
armed and dangerous suspect.
However, two days later, Moat is still on the loose so the town of
Rothbury has now been reopened with a very visible police presence on
the streets.
I'm not sure how I would have felt popping to the corner shop for a
newspaper and a pint of milk, to find policemen stood at every corner
given Moat's declaration to ‘keep killing police until I am dead'. Far
from being reassuring, this police presence would probably scare me even
more.
‘Norma, love - you couldn't just pop out and get some milk, could you ?
Thanks.'