A FORMER policeman who was killed by a deranged gunman while trying to
save the lives of colleagues in a factory has been given a posthumous
bravery award by the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust at Dunfermline.
Mr David Pursall, 29, a data processing manager of Bristol, tried to
disarm the man after he began firing a pump action shotgun
indiscriminately in the computer room of Alexandra Workwear in Bristol
on October 14, 1987.
The man, armed with two shotguns, had apparently intended abducting
his former girlfriend who worked in the computer room.
There were 31 others in the room when the man began firing. The
trust's citation says: ''Mr Pursall must have been fully aware of the
risk he ran and as he approached the gunman he was shot and killed, as
was another member of staff.
''As the man pointed the gun at his former girlfriend, it jammed or
the ammunition was exhausted. He said, 'It's your lucky day'.''
The trust has made a financial grant to Mr Pursall's widow and
one-year-old twins and will maintain an interest in their future
welfare.
The trustees use their annual income of #100,000 to make regular
allowances to the 200 heroes, on their roll of honour, who are still
alive.
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