Suspected gunman target of threats
Bryant described as deranged
April 30, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT)HOBART, Australia (CNN) -- As the fury mounts in Australia over the massacre of 35 people, death threats calling for the accused gunman's head have poured into the hospital where he is being treated for burns.
"An eye for an eye" was scrawled on one of the hospital's walls.
"There is a lot of anger against what has happened," said Lindsay Pyne, the hospital's chief executive officer. The hospital staff, he added, is struggling to cope with having to care for suspect Martin Bryant.
On Tuesday, Bryant, 28, was charged with one count of murder while he lay in his hospital bed at Royal Hobart Hospital, where he has been kept under heavy police guard. Police said more charges will follow.
Meanwhile, details about Bryant's life are surfacing, painting a deranged individual whose moods were chameleonlike.
"You could write a book about the fellow. He had three or four different personalities," said Barry Featherstone, a former neighbor. "He went from a normal person to a kid and obviously now he's a Rambo."
Police say Bryant had no prior criminal record but a history of psychological problems.
No plea entered
During the closed hospital-room hearing, Bryant, listed in satisfactory condition, did not enter a plea in response to Judge Peter Dixon's question as to whether he was guilty or innocent, police said.
Dixon ordered Bryant to be held in custody for a May 22 court appearance. If convicted, he could face life in prison; Australia does not have a death penalty.
Police say Bryant is the man who on Sunday gunned down 32 people, ranging in age from 3 to 72, at a tourist attraction in Tasmania. The gunman later set fire to an inn, killing three more people, and ending an all-night standoff with hundreds of officers.
Thirteen people wounded in the attack were being treated at the same hospital as Bryant; five of them were in serious condition. Five others were discharged from the hospital with minor injuries.
Among them was Dennis Olson of Vancouver, Washington, who described the shootings to an Associated Press reporter. "Everybody hit the ground. It was really quiet because people had the feeling that if you say anything you would draw his attention and he'd shoot," he said.
"There were no heroes in there. There were people cowering, hoping they wouldn't be his next target."
Australia has declared a national day of mourning on Wednesday; Tasmania has asked the rest of the country to observe a minute of silence in tribute to those slain. And the first of many memorial services for the victims was held Monday.
Neighbors describe bizarre behavior
Neighbors and acquaintances say Bryant slept by day, prowled by night, threatened visitors with his beloved guns and nonchalantly cut the grass minutes after being told his father had drowned. He shared his bed with a pet pig, they said.
"I was terrified of him," said one woman, speaking on condition of anonymity. "One minute, he would be all right, and then he wouldn't be."
Neighbor Barry Featherstone and his family gave similar accounts, saying Bryant's mood swings were unpredictable.
He once invited them over for a cup of tea and then threatened to shoot them, the Featherstones said.
They said a wealthy middle-aged woman named Helen Harvey was Bryant's domineering companion in the late 1980s.
"She told us she had looked after him for years, that she was like a mother to him and that his parents couldn't handle him," Veina Featherstone said.
Harvey employed the young Bryant as her gardener, but the two later lived together on her farm in Copping, 25 miles north of Port Arthur. Harvey was killed in a car crash in 1992; Bryant suffered head injuries in the wreck. He inherited several homes and money from her.
A year later, Bryant's father committed suicide at the farm and minutes afterward neighbors saw Bryant casually cutting the lawn.
Bryant later moved off the farm, began collecting firearms and was never the same again, acquaintances said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Survivor recounts massacre - April 30, 1996
- Suspected Australian gunman charged with murder - April 29, 1996
- Gunman kills at least 34 in Australia - April 29, 1996
- Australian gunman arrested after fire breaks out - April 28, 1996
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