Plymouth shooting: Jake Davison deadly spree took 6 minutes
Jake Davison, who killed five people, including a young girl, in Plymouth carried out the deadly spree in about six minutes, police have revealed.
The licensed firearms holder shot two women, two men and the girl in the Keyham area of the city on Thursday evening.
Police said the incident, the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010, is not terror-related.
In online videos Davison spoke of being “beaten down” and “defeated by life”.
Emergency services were called to Biddick Drive shortly after 18:00 BST on Thursday. Five people, including 22-year-old Davison, died at the scene and one died later in hospital.
Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer said Davison was a firearms licence holder.
He said the weapon used in the shooting had been described by witnesses as a “pump action shotgun” but police were not confirming that at this stage.
Mr Sawyer confirmed a firearm had been recovered from the scene and officers were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
The police received calls to an address on Biddick Drive at 18:11 and armed and unarmed officers arrived with six minutes.
Mr Sawyer said “multiple shots have been fired from a firearm during that six minute-or-so period”.
He said Davison “murdered a woman at the address”, who police believe was known to the killer, with a view there was a familial relationship.
He then went out on to the street, where “he immediately shot and killed a very young girl. He also shot and killed the male relative of that girl”.
Davison then shot another man and a woman on Biddick Drive who remain in hospital with injuries “not thought to be life-threatening”.
‘Incels’
He next went into a park, “where he immediately shot a man who died at the scene”, and then moved to Henderson Place where he shot a woman who later died at Derriford Hospital.
“Eye witnesses have told us that then Mr Davison turned the gun on himself taking his own life,” said Mr Sawyer.
In the online videos, since removed by YouTube, Davison said he was socially isolated, struggled to meet women and made references to “incels” – the misogynistic online groups of “involuntary celibate” men, who blame women for their sexual failings and who have been linked to a number of violent acts around the world.
Signing off on an 11-minute video, which appears to be the last he posted, Davison said: “I know it’s a movie but I like to think sometimes I’m the Terminator or something. Despite reaching almost total system failure he keeps trying to accomplish his mission.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “My thoughts are with the friends and family of those who lost their lives and with all those affected by the tragic incident in Plymouth last night.
“I thank the emergency services for their response.”
Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP Luke Pollard added it was “unspeakably awful” and he was “utterly devastated” to learn one of those killed was a child.
People were asked to stay inside and follow police advice as the emergency services responded.
Eyewitness Sharron, who lives nearby and did not want to give her full name, said what happened was “horrendous and so sad”.
“Firstly, there was shouting, followed by gunshots – three possibly four to begin with,” she said.
“This was when the shooter kicked in the door of a house and randomly started shooting. He ran from the house shooting as he ran and proceeded to shoot at a few people in the linear park up from the drive.”
She said the “shooter proceeded along Royal Navy Avenue still shooting”.