| Horden shooting | |
| Location: | Horden, County Durham, England, UK |
| Date: | 1 January 2012 |
| Type: | mass shooting, murder-suicide |
| Weapon: | shotgun |
| Fatalities: | 4 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injuries: | 1 |
| Perpetrator: | Michael Atherton |
The Horden shooting was a mass shooting in Horden, England, on 1 January 2012, also called the New Year's Day shooting. 42-year-old Michael Atherton shot his partner Susan McGoldrick, her sister Alison Turnbull and her daughter Tanya Turnbull with a shotgun, before killing himself.[1] They were all killed in Atherton's home, where three others escaped from an upstairs window, one of whom had suffered minor injuries from the spray of the gun.[2]
Michael Atherton, a taxi driver, had a licence which allowed him to legally own firearms, six in total - three of which were shotguns. Despite having his guns confiscated in 2008 by police, they were later returned.[3]
He was arrested for affray at a local club, and months later armed police were called to his home after he threatened to "blow his head off" to his family.[4]