LONDON: A young man who killed five people, including his mother, and then himself in Britain’s first mass shooting in over a decade had complained online about difficulties meeting women and being “beaten down” by life.
Police said Friday the motive for the shootings was unclear but there were no immediate signs that the crime was an act of terrorism or the 22-year-old gunman had connections to extremist groups.
They identified the shooter as Jake Davison, 22, and said he had a gun license, but revealed few other details. Witnesses reported that he used a pump-action shotgun, police said, though they wouldn’t confirm what type of weapon it was and whether it was the one Davison was licensed to use.
Gun crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict firearm control rules.
Police responded to multiple emergency calls at 6:11 p.m. Thursday arrived six minutes later at an address in Plymouth’s Keyham neighborhood, where Davison had shot and killed his mother, 51-year-old Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine Chapman.
According to police accounts, Davison left the house and immediately shot and killed a 3-year-old girl, Sophie Martyn, and her father, Lee Martyn, 43. He then shot and wounded two other people down the street whom police haven’t identified.
Police said Davison moved on to a park where he shot Stephen Washington, 59, who died at the scene, and then to a nearby street, where he shot Kate Shepherd, 66 on a nearby street. She died later in hospital.
Eyewitnesses reported that Davison shot himself before police arrived. He was licensed to use a gun last year and police are checking whether he had the license before then.
Shaun Sawyer, chief constable for Devon and Cornwall police, told reporters that investigators are not sure what Davison’s motive was and keeping open minds but do not think extremist ideology prompted the attack.
“Let’s see what’s on his hard drive, let’s see what’s on his computer, let’s see what’s on social media,” Sawyer said.
“We believe we have an incident that is domestically related that has spilled into the street and seen several people of Plymouth lose their lives in an extraordinarily tragic circumstance,” he added.
Davison appeared to post on YouTube under the name Professor Waffle in an account that has now been taken down, replaced by a notice saying it violated the site’s community guidelines. In a final 11-minute clip posted before the killings, “Professor Waffle” talks about how he was “beaten down and defeated by...life.”
He talks about struggling to stay motivated at working out and losing weight, working as a scaffolder when he was 17-18, and hinted at his lack of a love life by referring to “people who are incels” — shorthand for “involuntarily celibate.”
The “incel” movement justifies violence against women as revenge for men who are rejected as sexual partners, and believes society unjustly denies men sexual or romantic attention. The online subculture has been linked to deadly attacks in California, Toronto and Florida. Davison said that while he wouldn’t describe himself as an “incel,” they are “people similar to me, they’ve had nothing but themselves, and then they’ve socially had it tough.”
He compared himself to a businessman struggling to break even despite working long hours but who has a wife and kids supporting him.
“Does an incel virgin get that? No,” he said.
Britain’s last mass shooting was in 2010, when a taxi driver killed 12 people in Cumbria in northwest England before taking his own life.
Man kills 5, himself in UK’s first mass shooting in decade at Plymouth
https://arab.news/jh5ff
Man kills 5, himself in UK’s first mass shooting in decade at Plymouth
- Police said Friday the motive for the shootings was unclear and no immediate signs that the crime was an act of terrorism
- They identified the shooter as Jake Davison, 22, and said he had a gun license
IAEA board meets over Ukraine nuclear safety concerns
- The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Grossi said
- The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors on Friday discussed nuclear safety in Ukraine, with several countries expressing “growing concern” following Russian attacks on the power grid.
Energy supplies to Ukraine’s nuclear plants have been affected as Russia has pounded its neighbor’s power sector since the start of its 2022 invasion, prompting fears of a nuclear disaster.
The war in Ukraine “continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said when opening the board meeting.
The extraordinary meeting that lasted four hours was called after 13 countries led by the Netherlands expressed in a letter seen by AFP a “growing concern about the severity and urgency of nuclear safety risks” following a series of attacks.
Ukrainian ambassador Yurii Vitrenko told reporters before the meeting that it was “high time” for the IAEA board to discuss the situation.
A weeks-long IAEA expert mission to Ukrainian substations and power plants is under way and expected to wrap up next month, Vitrenko said.
The mission will assess 10 substations “crucial to nuclear safety,” according to Grossi.
Russian Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov dismissed the board’s gathering as “absolutely politically motivated,” adding there was “no real need to hold such a meeting today.”
Last week, Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power.
Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, has also been repeatedly affected by fighting.
Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a localized ceasefire to allow repairs on the last remaining backup power line supplying Zaporizhzhia.
The line was damaged and disconnected as a result of military activity in early January.
The Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors have been shut down since the occupation. But the site still needs electricity to maintain its cooling and security systems.
Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear catastrophe by attacking the site.
