Police confirmed at a press conference that one of the victims was ‘a very young girl’
Jake Davison’s shooting spree lasted a “matter of minutes” in Plymouth on Thursday night, and he knew his first victim, police have confirmed.
Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer on Friday detailed how Davison, 22, went about his shooting spree armed with a pump-action gun, starting on Biddick Drive.
Sawyer said the shooting was initially “domestically-related”.
Davison shot a woman at an address on Biddick Drive, who was known to him, but Sawyer would not say if the pair were related.
The shooting spree then, “spilled out into the street”.
Police received multiple calls at 6.11pm and arrived within six minutes, Sawyer said, but by then, Davison had killed four other people and had turned the gun on himself.
Jake Davison
After leaving the first address, Davison killed a “very young girl” along with the girl’s male relative in a “truly shocking event witnessed by members of the public.”
Sawyer said Davison then aimed and shot at two local residents, a man and a woman, who are now being treated for injuries that are not life-threatening.
Another man was then shot and killed before Davison continued his rampage, claiming the life of another woman who died in hospital.
Davison then shot himself, before police had a chance to “engage” with him.
Sawyer said Davison had a gun license in 2020 and that a motive had not yet been established. It was not known if Davison had any mental health issues, but police have said the attack was not terror-related.
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In his last video uploaded to YouTube, Davison talked about being a “terminator”, according to reports
Davison, an apprentice crane operator, described himself on his YouTube channel as an ‘incel’ and made references to the fatalist ‘blackpill’ philosophy to which the radical fringe group subscribes, the Telegraph reported, noting also that he appeared to have an obsession with guns.
In his final video post, on July 28, the newspaper said that Davison spent 11-minutes talking about how his life had hit a dead end and his struggles with attracting women and weight loss. The video blog ended with Davison saying he likes to think “I’m a Terminator”.
“The whole premise of the Terminator movies is that you know everything is rigged against you, there’s no hope for humanity, you know, we’re on the brink of extinction, these machines are unstoppable killing machines that can’t be beaten, can’t be outsmarted, but yet humanity still tries to fight to the end,” Davison said in the video.
“I know it’s a movie, but, you know, I like to think sometimes I’m a Terminator or something and despite reaching almost total system failure, he keeps trying to accomplish his mission.”
Davison’s YouTube account has since been deleted. A spokesperson for the platform told JOE on Friday: “Our hearts go out to those affected by this terrible incident. We have strict policies to ensure our platform is not used to incite violence. In addition, we also have long-standing policies that prohibit those responsible for attacks like these from having a YouTube channel and have since terminated their channel from our platform.”
MP Johnny Mercer on Friday condemned the shooting as an “appalling act of violence”.
He told Sky News that it will have “far-reaching effects throughout the community”.
“I know everybody says it but you just don’t expect it to happen in Plymouth,” he said, before describing the incident as “one of our darkest days for many many years”.
Nick Kelly, the leader of Plymouth City Council, issued a statement on Friday.
It reads: “I was shocked and saddened about last night’s awful events and like everyone else in Plymouth struggled to take in how this has happened in a city such as ours.
“Today our city is mourning and my heart goes out to all those who are directly affected by this incident. While we do not yet have all the details, we know that this is a harrowing tragedy that will have an impact not just on the victims’ families, but people living in this neighbourhood and the wider city.”
Police appealed to the public not to speculate about the circumstances surrounding the shootings or share pictures of the scene on social media or anywhere else.
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