Six people, including a child, were killed in a mass shooting in the city of Plymouth in southwest England on Thursday evening.
Two females and three males died from gunshot wounds at the scene of the incident, the Devon and Cornwall Police said in a statement. Another female died a short time later in hospital, the police added. Police on Friday named the gunman as Jake Davison, a 23-year-old Crane Operator.
“We believe we have an incident that is domestically related, that has spilled into the street and seen several people in Plymouth losing their lives in extraordinarily tragic circumstances,” Devon and Cornwall Police’s Chief Constable, Shaun Sawyer said.
The Chief Constable added the shooting incident took place within “a matter of minutes”.
He also revealed the first person shot dead was a woman known to Davison. The 51-year-old was murdered at a property in Biddick Drive, Keyham.
The United Kingdom has one of the lowest gun homicide rates in the world, and mass shootings are rare. This was the first mass shooting in the country for 11 years.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, described the incident as “shocking”.
Boris Johnson has said his thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims of the shooting and he thanked emergency services who responded.
Luke Pollard, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told Times Radio on Friday: “I’m afraid there’s an awful lot of people who seem to be caught up in this shooting. We are waiting for final figures from the police on how many people are injured.”
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