Dad of gunman Jake Davison 'sorry and ashamed' over horrifying murder spree
12.02.2022 - 18:31
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
The father of a man who shot and killed five people in 2021 said that he is "sorry and ashamed" over his son's actions.
Jake Davison, 22, murdered his mother at her home and then fatally shot another four people, including a tot, during a 12-minute brutal rampage on August 12.
Davison, who suffered from mental health problems and could have been influenced by "incel" culture, had a firearms licence and legally was in possession of a pump-action shotgun, The Mirror reports.
The killing spree in Keyham, Plymouth, happened just weeks after Davison's gun and licence were returned to him by Devon and Cornwall Police.
His father, Mark Davison, said that he contacted the force in 2017 to air his concerns about his son's mental health and told them that he did not think his son should be allowed a shotgun.
Speaking for the first time in an interview with the BBC six months after the killings, Mr Davison said: "If I could say sorry any better than I can, if I could change it, I really would. I am sorry and I am ashamed.
"It's just a horrendous thing that's happened like, it really is. It's horrible.
"These are real people, people that as far as I'm aware Jake didn't even know. And I don't know what was going on in his mind.
"And it must be terrible for the victims' families. It must be horrendous."
He added: "That three-year-old little girl, and the other victims - people just going about their lives, going to the park or going to the shop, taking the dog or whatever they were doing."
Maxine Davison, 51, Lee Martyn, 43 and his daughter Sophie Martyn, 3, Stephen Washington, 59, and 66-year-old Katherine Shepherd, were killed within minutes of each other.
Apprentice crane operator Davison then turned the pump-action shotgun on himself