United Kingdom authorities are scrambling to resolve the issue brought about by a gunman who shot and killed five people last week as it was revealed the suspect's gun was returned by police who failed to clear his history.
Police continued to investigate the areas in Keyham where 22-year-old Jake Davison went on a shooting spree on Thursday. The suspect's first victim was his 51-year-old mother, Maxine Davison, a three-year-old girl, Sophie Martyn, and her 43-year-old father Lee Martyn.
Horrific Plymouth Shooting
In a nearby park, 59-year-old Stephen Washington was the shooter's victim and the last, 66-year-old Kate Shepherd, was shot in Henderson Place. Shepherd was initially transported to the hospital where the victim was later pronounced dead.
The gunman's crime came after his YouTube channel uploaded a video of him ranting about the "Incel" movement and his comparison of himself to the "Terminator." It was revealed that Davison liked Incel TV, an online support group for "involuntary celibates" who are linked to male supremacy and misogyny, The Sun reported.
Many have gathered together to mourn the deaths of the victims as more than 70 bouquets were left outside a Lidl supermarket near the area of the shooting. The names of the five fatalities were inscribed on green heart-shaped balloons and tied to a nearby railing.
British police were found to have returned the gun of the suspect before his heinous shooting. They confessed that they never checked his social media accounts before returning the firearm. They argued that doing so would be an invasion of his privacy.
Many believe that if authorities bothered to look at Davison's posts and uploads they would have discovered that he was obsessed with gun videos on YouTube. It was also shown that the gunman was infatuated with one of the country's most deadly shootings which occurred in 1987, a massacre that was conducted in Hungerford, the New York Post reported.
Revising Gun Laws and Checks
In December 2020, authorities confiscated Davison's gun and license after being accused of assault three months prior. But last month, a few weeks before the deadly shooting, officials returned his firearm.
Devon and Cornwall Deputy Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer confirmed that police officers did not check Davison's internet activities before returning his gun. He said that it was not standard procedure to check people's private posts before returning confiscated firearms.
However, one local politician criticized the police for their lack of security, prioritizing privacy over protection. Tory MP Tim Loughton said the matter was related to public records. He argued that a misunderstanding of social media privacy invasion led to the horrific crime.
A former top prosecutor for the Crown, Nazir Afzal, said the suspect should have been placed on the police's watch list. He argued that Davison was exactly the type of person that authorities are supposed to keep their eyes on for potential criminal activities.
Moving forward, British police will be required to check people's social media profiles and accounts pending firearm license applications. The new rules were implemented after Davison's horrific mass shooting in Plymouth, Reuters reported.
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