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Plymouth gunman who killed five, including a child, named

Published 09:07 13 Aug 2021 BST

Updated 12:19 13 Aug 2021 BST

Steve Hopkins

Plymouth gunman who killed five, including a child, named

One of the victims was a "very young girl."

The gunman who killed five people in Plymouth on Thursday night before turning the weapon on himself has been named locally as Jake Davison.

Three females and two males were shot in the Keyham area of the city.

Two of the females died at the scene, along with the men. The third died shortly afterward in hospital.

Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport wrote on Twitter that one of the victims was a child under the age of 10. "I'm utterly devastated that one of the people killed in the Keyham shooting was a child under ten years old," he wrote. Police have since confirmed that one of the victims was a "very young girl." The incident, the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010, is not terror-related, police said. Police were called to Biddick Drive at about 6.10pm on Thursday with the South Western ambulance called a few minutes later. Pollard said it's thought the shooting began in Biddick Drive and spread to nearby streets. Some of those injured in the incident are still in hospital, Sky News quoted him as saying. "An awful lot of people who seem to be caught up in this shooting."

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.