San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Police had given confiscated gun back to suspect
LONDON — Britain’s police watchdog says it has opened an investigation into why a 22year-old man who fatally shot five people in southwestern England 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 Thursday 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 the 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.
“We will examine what police actions were taken and when, the rationale behind police decision-making and whether relevant law, policy and procedures were followed concerning Mr. Davison’s possession of a shotgun,” said the office’s regional director, David Ford.
“The investigation will also consider whether the force had any information concerning Mr. Davison’s mental health and if so, if this information was appropriately
British Home Secretary Priti Patel (left) and Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer of Devon and Cornwall police pay their respects at the scene of a deadly shooting rampage in Plymouth.
considered,” Ford said.
Hundreds attended a candlelit vigil in Plymouth on Friday night close to where the killings took place.
Police said Davison shot and killed his 51-year-old mother, Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine Chapman, at a house before going into the street and killing 3-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father, Lee Martyn,
43.
According to the police timeline, Davison next killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before fatally shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on a nearby street. Two other people were wounded.
Davison appeared to have shown interest in “incel“— shorthand for “involuntarily celibate” — forums on social media. He has posted online
that while he wouldn’t describe himself as an “incel,” they are “people similar to me, they’ve had nothing but themselves, and then they’ve socially had it tough.”
In a YouTube video posted in late July, he spoke about how he was “beaten down and defeated by … life.”