Shooting suspect got seized weapon back

Britain’s police watchdog says it has launched an investigation into why a 22-year-old man who fatally shot five people in southwestern England on Thursday was given back his confiscated gun and gun license last month.

Police have said Jake Davison killed his mother and four other people, including a 3-year-old girl, before taking his own life in the port city of Plymouth. It was Britain’s first mass shooting in over a decade. Firearm crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict gun control laws and regulations.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said late Friday it would investigate the Devon and Cornwall police department’s decision-making in relation to Davison’s possession of a shotgun and the license. The watchdog said it was not yet known whether the shotgun returned to Davison was the same one he used in Thursday’s shootings.

Police took away the gun and the certificate in December 2020 following an allegation of assault three months earlier, the watchdog office said. They were returned to Davison last month.