A SUBMARINE crewman killed one of his officers and seriously injured another when he turned his rifle on them during what was supposed to be a routine change of guards on the Clyde-based vessel.
Police were called to HMS Astute
in Southampton after the sailor used his SA80 weapon to fire six shots at officers and civic dignitaries before he was tackled by the leader of the city council and over-powered by fellow crew members.Last night the crewman was being held on suspicion of murder as Ministry of Defence officials and Navy officers told the officer's relatives of his death.
The shooting prompted calls for a full investigation by the Ministry of Defence into the "cursed" sub, which infamously ran aground off Skye in October.
It was on a five-day visit to Southampton when the gunman opened fire. The incident happened just after a group of Scouts had left the vessel following a tour.
The leader of Southampton city council, Royston Smith, described last night how he helped wrestle the gun from the man. He said the shooting began when a crewman carrying an automatic rifle appeared at a doorway of the control room: "Two shots were fired, straight after that he entered the control room and began shooting into the control room.
"I sort of raced towards him – I guess I'm lucky he didn't hit me – and I pushed him against a wall. We wrestled to try and take the gun away from him. He did fire the gun again while I had a hold of it. I had a strange feeling, and I wasn't sure if I'd been hit. Thankfully I wasn't.
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