Plymouth shooting: Prayers in city as Keyham mourns for victims of shooting attack

Prayers have been said for the five victims of the Plymouth shooting as the community comes together in mourning.

A church in Keyham, close to the scene, used a Sunday service to remember those killed on 12 August, while a special prayer was written by the Bishop of Exeter.

We want to hear from you: let us know what you think about this story and be part of the debate in our comments section below

At a glance: 5 key points

• Father David Way, parish priest at St Thomas’ Church in Keyham, asked the congregation during the service to pray for the five victims, Maxine Davison, Lee Martyn, Sophie Martyn, Kate Shepherd and Stephen Washington, adding: “We pray also for peace for Jake”
• Questions continue to mount over how gunman Jake Davison, 22, got a firearms licence and carried out his spree before turning the gun on himself
• The service came as a former Metropolitan Police chief said officers should trawl through social media accounts of people applying for firearms licences to ensure that “guns do not fall into the hands of dangerous people”
• Social media posts and interactions offered insight into the mind of a man who was interested in guns and America, while his social media usage suggests an obsession with the “incel” culture, meaning “involuntary celibate”
• Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, said there was a “sense of anger” among residents at how the events of the atrocity unfolded

What’s been said

“Those people who have died, we have to keep those in our prayers, but also the loved ones which have been left behind.

“I’m hoping we can break any cycle of anger, as it were, and bring a cycle of love for everybody involved.”

Father David Way, parish priest at St Thomas’ Church in Keyham, told the PA news agency after the service

“I think people’s emotions have changed from shock and disbelief into now feeling that profound loss of the five people who were killed.

“But also a sense of anger. Wanting to know the questions as to how was this allowed to happen, why did this happen, and were there opportunities to stop this happening that were not taken?

“We need to get to the answers of those and that will take some time, and police need to be able to have the space to do it. But we need to make sure the community gets those proper answers because they deserve them.”

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Background

The police watchdog has launched an investigation, following a mandatory referral from Devon and Cornwall Police, which contains preliminary information that Davison’s firearm and licence were returned to him in early July this year.

The certificate and shotgun had been removed by police in December 2020 following an allegation of assault in September 2020, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said.

However, Davison’s firearms licence was returned after he attended an anger management course, according to reports.

Davison shot his 51-year-old mother, Maxine Chapman, at a house in Biddick Drive before he went into the street and shot dead Sophie, aged three, and her father Mr Martyn, aged 43.

In the 12-minute attack witnessed by horrified onlookers, Davison then killed Mr Washington, 59, in a nearby park before shooting 66-year-old Ms Shepherd, who later died at Derriford Hospital.

Davison also shot two local residents who are known to each other, a 33-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman, in Biddick Drive, who suffered significant injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening.