A GUNMAN shot dead five people after a row with his mother, an inquest heard. Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother Maxine Davison, 51, at her home in Plymouth before going out and shooting dead four others in a 12-minute attack last Thursday.
Three-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father Lee, 43, were shot dead in front of horrified onlookers as they walked their pet dog in Biddick Drive.
Davison then shot Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, and Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place.
The apprentice crane operator turned the gun on himself before armed officers reached him.
During a 10-minute hearing, Ian Arrow, senior coroner for Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon, formally opened the inquests into the deaths of Davison’s victims. Police gave evidence of identification and the brief circumstances of their deaths.
Detective Steve Hambly, the senior investigating officer, told the hearing all five had died from shotgun wounds. He said Mrs Davison, a former trawlerwoman, had died at her home address in Biddick Drive, in the Keyham area of the city.
“The circumstances of her death are that Maxine sustained fatal gunshot wounds following an argument with her son,” he told the court.
“Police are not looking for any other persons in connection with Maxine’s death. On present evidence the medical cause of death has been ascertained as shotgun wounds to the torso and head.”
Hambly said Martyn, a married carpenter, and his daughter were was shot dead in Biddick Drive as they walked the family dog. Mr Martyn died of gunshot wounds to the torso and head and Sophie of shotgun wounds to her head.”
The hearing was told Mr Washington, who was a carer for his wife, was shot while out walking his dogs in parkland close to Biddick Drive. He died of shotgun wounds to the chest.
Hambly said: “While out walking his dogs, Stephen was fatally shot by an assailant not known to him. Police are not looking for any other persons in connection with Stephen’s death. The final victim of Davison’s rampage was Mrs Shepherd, an artist, who died in hospital after being shot.
In a separate five-minute hearing, the coroner opened and adjourned the inquest into the death of Davison.
Hambly said Davison had an argument with his mother before fatally shooting her and the other victims, none of whom were know to him.
As well as the coroner’s investigation, two other inquiries are already under way into the shootings. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is examining the decision by the Devon and Cornwall force to return Davison’s shotgun certificate and weapon to him just weeks before the killings after they were seized following an allegation of assault.
The National Police Chiefs Council is also leading an investigation, in conjunction with the local police and crime commissioner, into the force’s firearms policies and procedures.
Meanwhile, the Government will introduce new statutory guidance, including asking doctors to undertake medical checks on anyone applying for a licence, as well as inquiries into social media usage.
Social media usage by Davison suggested an obsession with “incel” culture, meaning “involuntary celibate”, as well as an interest in guns and the US.
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