UK’S first mass shooting in 11 years under probe

Plymouth: Police said they were investigating the background of a troubled loner who obtained a firearms licence and shot dead five people, including his mother and a three-year-old girl, in Britain’s first mass shooting in 11 years.

No motive has emerged for Thursday evening’s bloodshed at the hands of 22-year-old gunman Jake Davison, who killed himself after the six-minute spree in Plymouth, southwest England, not far from western Europe’s biggest naval base.

But ruling out terrorism, including with far-right groups, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed that Davison’s first victim was his 51-year-old mother, Maxine, at her house in a quiet residential area.

Davison then shot and killed toddler Sophie Martyn and her father Lee, 43, on the street outside, before taking the lives of another man and woman nearby, the police said.

Another two locals received “significant” but not life-threatening gunshot wounds, they said, adding that as of 2020, Davison held a valid firearms licence.

But as questions mounted over Davison’s past, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the emergency services, and expressed concern at the misogyny apparent in the gunman’s social media accounts.

He told reporters that he was “appalled” at the sexism, adding: “I think this is something that will undoubtedly be part of the investigation.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel stressed that the government was addressing online extremism in forthcoming legislation that sought to hold social media companies to greater account.

She said it would also look into how Davison obtained a gun permit, as independent police investigators opened a probe into the approval of a licence in his case by the regional force.

Britain’s police watchdog said it would investigate why Davison was handed back his shotgun and accompanying permit in July.

They had been taken away from him by police in December 2020 “following an allegation of assault in September 2020,” the Independent Office for Police Conduct said in a statement.

Churches and schools in Plymouth opened their doors for locals to mourn on Friday.

“We weep with those who weep,” said Plymouth’s Anglican bishop, the Right Reverend Nick Mckinnel.

City leaders planned to illuminate Smeaton’s Tower, a local landmark, as “a beacon of light on a very dark, dark day for Plymouth”.

A single gun was recovered from the scene after Davison shot himself, but the police were unable to confirm witness accounts that it was a pump-action shotgun.

Britain has some of the Western world’s toughest gun controls and police are not routinely armed. Gun crime rates are among the lowest in the world.