'He's shooting everybody' - new CCTV released of Plymouth gunman Jake Davison

  • CCTV footage shows Jake Davison leaving his home with a gun before walking around the streets of Keyham during mass shooting

Chilling footage from the moments before a gunman obsessed with incel culture launched one of the worst shooting attacks in UK history has been shared at an ongoing inquest today.

Jake Davison killed five people - including his own mother - in an eight-minute attack in Plymouth on 12 August 2021.

The 22-year-old shooter killed his mum Maxine Davison, 51, after a row and then shot dead four others in the Keyham area of the city.

Lee Martyn, 43, and his three-year-old daughter Sophie Martyn, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, died in the attack during the summer evening of 2021.

At an inquest into the attack at Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon Coroner’s Court at Exeter Racecourse today (18 January), jurors were shown video comprised of 999 calls, CCTV footage and police piecing together 24 minutes of the incident on tape and culminating with when Jake Avison shot himself.

Snippets of CCTV were also shown depicting Davison walking along Royal Navy Avenue arraying a shotgun in his right hand.

Jurors listened to chilling 999 calls undertaken in the moments after Davison began his terrifying shooting.

One caller said: “There’s a man with a gun in Keyham in Plymouth. Please. He’s shooting everybody."

“It’s definitely an automatic because he’s just firing all the time," one caller said.

To which the police operator responded: "Luke an Ak47?”

And they replied: “Yeah yeah, you’ve got it.”

One witness also described seeing Davison moments after he shot Kate Shepherd.

A forensic officer carries an evidence bag in Biddick Drive in the Keyham area of Plymouth Credit: Ben Birchall/PA

Investigator David Miller from Devon and Cornwall Police said just eight minutes elapsed between the first shooting of Ms Davison and the last of Ms Shepherd.

Unarmed police officers arrived at Henderson Place to attend to Ms Shepherd within seven minutes of the first 999 call.

A second unarmed police unit arrived at Bedford Street where Davison emerged.

Investigator Miller told the jury Davison was holding the gun under his chin as he walked.

Mr Miller added Davison did not break stride, despite police shouting at him, and he then shot himself in the head.

Police found he had just one live cartridge left in the gun and had no other ammunition with him.

Jake Davison shot and killed five people in Keyham before turning the gun on himself

Prior to the tragedy, Davison searched the internet about serial killers and posted on so-called incel forums with a catalogue of offensive and deeply disturbing remarks and videos.

The police officer in charge of the probe into the Keyham tragedy said after an independent review of his internet use, there was no evidence that showed any planning of what was to come or intent to commit violence.

Superintendent Rachel Bentley told the inquest jury that Devon and Cornwall Police had seized Davison's computer and his mobile phones, which contained 1.6 million items.

The majority of that material was unremarkable, but they found 57 items that contained offensive, disturbing material. 

One of the most disturbing findings was a video where Davison spoke of his disillusionment with life and his mother walked into the room. He shouted at her to leave and said he hated her.

The inquest jury was told he had looked at sites about the Hungerford mass shooting in the UK, as well as items about an incel mass killer from the US.

Superintendent Bentley denied that she was downplaying the serious, offensive material found on Davison's online history, but said in context to the 1.6 million items discovered there were only 57 items of this type - most of which were unremarkable. 

She said in the hour leading up to the shootings Davison had shown no sign of what was to come and had been making future plans, including booking a driving test and arranging for a DHL parcel to be delivered.

Supt Bentley added the police had been unable to properly investigate Davison's Reddit account because it had been taken down the day before the shootings and Reddit had refused to cooperate with the police investigation.

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