Keyham shooting: A timeline of the events

The inquest continues at Exeter Racecourse

Tributes left for the victims of the Plymouth shootings
Author: Rod Minchin, PA Published 18th Jan 2023

Gunman Jake Davison killed five people in an incident that lasted between eight and 12 minutes on the evening of August 12, 2021 in the Keyham area of Plymouth.

Here is a timeline of events as shown to the jury at an inquest into the deaths of Davison's victims:

  • 3pm: Jake Davison leaves work at the dockyard to walk home.
  • 3.22pm: Davison returns home to 17 Biddick Drive where he lives with his mother Maxine Davison. He is seen on a neighbour's CCTV arriving home.
  • 5.20pm: Maxine Davison leave home for a dental appointment.
  • 5.35pm: Maxine Davison returns home having got the wrong date for her appointment.
  • 6pm: Lee Martyn and his daughter Sophie walk along Royal Navy Avenue through Linear Park into Biddick Drive. Sophie is seen holding her father's hand while pushing a buggy.
  • 6.05pm: Maxine Davison calls her sister Marlene Hill reporting she and her son are having an argument.
  • 6.08pm: A neighbour hears two shots. Mrs Davison is shot twice - once from two metres and once from one metre. Davison leaves his home with the gun and catches up with the Martyns.
  • 6.09pm: Davison shoots Mr Martyn three times from 20 metres and closer. Sophie is shot once from one metre away.

Kate Shepherd exits the Lidl supermarket on Wolseley Road and walks down Henderson Place towards the Blushes hair salon.

Neighbours make 999 calls to the police, reporting: "I'm at Biddick Drive, please he's just shot somebody."

Another neighbour reports: "I'm at my kitchen window, heard a bang, and the person who done it lives at 17 of this street, think his name is Jake something. I heard a bang and thought what the hell was that and he ran down, saw him pumping his gun."

Another 999 call reports: "He's gone up the back with an automatic weapon, looks like a black automatic rifle."

The operator asks: "Like an AK-47?"

The man replies: "Yeah you've got it. Think he might have killed his mother as well, his door is open..."

Another call reports: "He's gone up the road, he's shooting everywhere... gone up towards Henderson Place."

Davison then shoots at a house in Biddick Drive injuring two people - mother and son Michelle Parker and Ben Parsonage - when they opened their front door to see what was going on.

  • 6.10pm: Davison walks into Linear Park, which is adjacent to Biddick Drive, and shoots Stephen Washington twice - once from a distance of 10-16 metres and once from less than three metres. A bystander in the park, known as Snakey Path, sees him and runs away after being warned by their wife who had heard the shootings.

Davison walks out of Linear Park, turns left onto Royal Navy Avenue and heads towards Henderson Place. He is seen on CCTV carrying the shotgun in his right hand and wearing shorts and T-shirts.

  • 6.11pm: As Mrs Shepherd walks along Henderson Place, Davison from the direction of Royal Navy Avenue walks towards her and crosses the street. CCTV shows him with shotgun in his right hand.
  • 6.12pm: Mrs Hill calls 999 on behalf of her sister, telling the operator: "Just had a call from my sister, her son has mental health issues. He's locked her in the bedroom grabbed her by the throat not letting her out."
  • 6.13pm: Davison shoots Mrs Shepherd in the abdomen from a distance of no more than three metres outside the Lush salon. Her death was captured on CCTV and her shopping bag is seen falling to the ground. Davison continues walking and heads into nearby Bedford Street.
  • 6.14pm: Dashcam in a car captures a man in the street making a 999 call. The man reports: "We heard a gunshot go off near Lush hairdressers."
  • 6.16pm: Two unarmed police officers arrive at Henderson Place and begin first aid on Mrs Shepherd.

Davison threatens witnesses in Bedford Street and at this point he only has two cartridges left in his shotgun. An ambulance arrives to treat Mrs Shepherd.

  • 6.22pm: Davison walks back down Bedford Street towards Henderson Place and CCTV captures him walking with the shotgun positioned under his chin.
  • 6.24pm: On the corner of Beford Street and Henderson Place, Davison shoots himself dead as he strides down the road. As he is doing this, a second police car pulls up.

Police bodycam footage records an officer witnessing Davison shooting himself in the head. The officers says: "A male has just shot himself in the head on Henderson Place."

The final incident is also captured on a camera inside the emergency ambulance attending to Mrs Shepherd.

A single cartridge was recovered from inside the weapon, a black Weatherby pump-action shotgun.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.