Oh my goodness, what a to do in Blackpool with the elderly guy and the hold up in the Halifax! Hubby told me about it when it happened in the afternoon and for once I was speechless. A lot of ‘oh my goodness how horrible’ came out of my mouth as I couldn’t think of many other ways that would be as horrible to end someone’s life.
Apparently an elderly man on a mobility scooter went into a Halifax branch on Church Street at Blackpool, you would think to do some kind of banking transaction but no, he had other things on his mind. The man took a full petrol can into the building and decided to throw it all over the furniture and everything he could douse it in. He was caught on camera, gingerly walking into the building with his green petrol can. I think he must have been seen acting suspiciously as there were already policemen outside the building.
Hold Up in the Halifax
The staff inside fled when the man decided the building wasn’t enough to set on fire. A witness said he doused himself along with the bank manager. They think any customers in the shop must have run for their lives because when the armed police turned up there were none inside. I don’t blame them either if they could get out. I would too, in spite of my very painful knees, and hardly walking, never mind running, I think I would have had to have done the best I could to get away. Just imagine going up in flames – which is too awful to contemplate!
The police immediately taped the streets off around the building. Gas and electricity engineers came, because imagine if he had set fire to the building. The gas and electrics wouldn’t take much encouragement to explode. Think how terrible such an explosion could have been, ooh it makes you shudder.
Police officers had riot shields and rifles as specialist negotiators were called in to try and get the man out and end the hold up in the Halifax peacefully. Nobody seems to know why he felt he had to take such a drastic measure. But a witness actually saw him pour petrol on himself and he said he was going to set himself on fire!!
How Traumatic
I can’t stop thinking how traumatic it must have been for everyone. The staff, the bank manager who had a petrol bath, and customers who managed to escape. The thought of a stranger setting you on fire because they could would have been too enormous to think of. You do see these things happening in real life, and more so in films, but to have it happen to you must have been awful beyond words. The poor things will probably be traumatised and always looking over their shoulders for something bad to happen. I bet they are going to need some careful counselling.
What happened when the old man did come out, or how they got him to come out remains a mystery for the time being until the reasons are released. I can’t help wondering why he would want to end his life in a huge fireball and take people with him.
Was he tired of living? Was he bearing a grudge against the bank for something they did he didn’t like? What was the reason that such a tortured mind felt he had to do something so awful.
Had he flipped a switch in his brain that led him to such a dark place? Was he mentally ill and not responsible for his acts? We certainly won’t know until we are told more by the police, that’s for sure.
Whatever the reason, I can feel for the man as something had made him do it. The consequences of him using his lighter doesn’t bear thinking about.
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