London , England ( CNN ) -- A taxi driver shot in the back by Cumbrian gunman Derrick Bird has described how he dived for cover as he watched Bird shoot a friend in the face . Twelve people were killed in a shooting rampage which began in the port town of Whitehaven on Wednesday and ended with Bird , also a taxi driver , apparently shooting himself near a remote Lake District village . Don Reed said he watched in horror as Bird walked up to a taxi rank in Whitehaven and shot another driver , Darren Rewcastle , at point blank range . `` He turned up and shouted 'Darren ' before walking up to him and taking his face off . I saw it . He just shot him , '' Reed , a former soldier , told the Liverpool Echo . `` Then Derrick pulled up by me , raised his shotgun and got me in the back as I took a flying dive . Half the bullet got me and the other half went into a shop window across the road . '' Reed said his military training `` kicked in '' as he crawled away on hands and knees , using cars for cover . `` I got next to Darren Rewcastle on the floor . His face was gone . I stood up and Derrick came forward as I tried to open taxi doors to put between us . '' Bird then drove away , shooting several other taxi drivers in the town , the Echo said . Reed said he had known Bird for 20 years . He said Bird had been on vacation to Thailand with some of his victims . `` I have n't a clue why he did it , it 's beyond my comprehension , '' Reed told the Echo . Reed was taken to a local hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound and later released . A local taxi firm owner said Bird had been involved in a dispute with other drivers at the rank -- including Rewcastle -- who he had accused of taking `` fares '' from the back of the queue . `` There 's been an argument on the rank which was in relation to taking people off the back of the rank , instead of sending them to the front , '' he told the UK 's Press Association . `` It 's an ongoing thing . It came to a head on Tuesday night and maybe , with any other problems Derrick had , it contributed to his behavior . '' Meanwhile residents of the village of Boot have spoken of how their idyllic Lake District hamlet became the center of a frantic police manhunt as cars were forced off the road and drivers witnessed a woman shot in the face . `` Two cars came screeching down , one after another because they had been almost road-raged off the road by this bloke . After that they saw him shoot the girl in the face , '' Rose Bogg , 63 , told PA. Bogg said residents were warned to stay indoors . `` There were helicopters around the place because they were searching for him ... It was really scary . We knew he was in the area and we had heard he was on foot by then but nobody knew exactly where he was . '' After two hours , Bogg and her husband heard that the gunman had shot himself nearby . `` This is just an out of the blue thing . Everyone is very shocked , '' she said .
Taxi driver ducked for cover as a colleague was shot dead at point blank range . The gunman then fled the scene in an Audi A3 and is still on the run. Bird was involved in a dispute with other taxi drivers , cab firm owner says . Bird eventually found dead in Lake District village following police manhunt .