An unarmed police officer has described how he ran towards the Plymouth gunman, Jake Davison, who had shot dead five people with a pump-action shotgun, determined to grab his attention and stop him hurting anyone else.
PC Zachary Printer told the inquest on Davison’s victims: “My role as a police officer is to protect the public as best I can. I had no choice. I had to confront him to protect the public. I had to become the focus of his attention.”
Printer, a former Royal Marine, said he went to the scene even though unarmed officers were not meant to attend. He was tending one of the victims when he heard somebody shouting: “He is back … he has got a gun.”
Printer turned and saw a heavily built man carrying a shotgun. He said: “I got up and started to run towards him. I shouted: ‘Stand still!’ My thoughts were: I needed to protect the public, I needed to protect my colleagues, I also needed to protect Jake. He was obviously going through a massive trauma. If I got closer I would negotiate, talk him down.”
He said he got to within 20 metres of Davison when the shooter turned the weapon on himself. “I sprinted towards Jake, he had suffered catastrophic non-survivable injuries.”
Davison, 22, first killed his mother, Maxine Davison, 51, then three-year-old Sophie Martyn, her father, Lee Martyn, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, in August 2021.
Davison’s neighbours Michelle Parker and her son Ben Parsonage were injured when Davison shot at them. Parker recalled him “staring right through us, no remorse”. She said she was still scared of opening her front door and could not sleep with the lights off.
Describing the moment Davison shot them, Parsonage said: “I could see Jake’s face, the smirk on his face, no remorse. He did not care what he was doing.” He said the incident had left him feeling “hopeless and an emotional wreck”.
Marlene Hill, sister of Maxine Davison, told the inquest she dialled 999 and told police Davison was attacking his mother moments before he shot Maxine. She said when she found out how many people he had killed she was shocked but “honestly not surprised”.
The inquest continues.
