Mum begged killer with a crossbow to spare baby
A NEIGHBOUR shot dead a young dadof-three with a crossbow before targeting his pregnant girlfriend after they reported him for smoking cannabis, an inquest heard.
Anthony Lawrence, 55, hid in the couple’s attic while they were out before shooting Shane Gilmer, 30, with an arrow that became lodged in his spine after passing through his arm and abdomen.
He then shot Laura Sugden and stabbed her in the throat with an arrow she pulled out of her head.
The murder sparked a two-day manhunt which saw Southburn, East Yorkshire, put on lockdown by police before Lawrence’s body was found on the North York Moors on January 14, 2018.
Hull coroner’s court was read a transcript in which Mr Gilmer told the operator: ‘ It’s right in, it’s about 10in into my body. It ripped through my arm as well.’
The inquest heard there had been ‘various disputes’ between the neighbours over Lawrence’s loud music and cannabis use. Lawrence told the couple he blamed them for him being evicted.
After the couple returned from their date, Ms Sugden went upstairs and when she opened her daughter’s bedroom door she saw Lawrence with the
crossbow. ‘Shane came into the bedroom and he was injured,’ she told the coroner. ‘I asked him [Lawrence] if what he had done would kill Shane.
‘He said it would and he was going to kill me too. I told him I was pregnant and he said he already knew. He shot me in the head. At the top of my head.’
She added: ‘I took the arrow out of my head. He had left the room at that point but I think he must have heard me get up so he came into the bedroom and he managed to get the arrow I had in my hand and push it on my neck.’
Ms Sugden ran to fetch help and was rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary for treatment that saved both her and the baby. The hearing continues.