Man who comforted victim of Plymouth shooting describes coming face to face with the gunman

A man who comforted one of the Plymouth shooting victims in the final minutes of her life has spoken of the moment he came face to face with the gunman.

Bert Pinkerton was seen on car dashcam footage helping Kate Shepherd after she was gunned down on Henderson Place in the city on Thursday.

Speaking to Sky correspondent Ashna Hurynag, Mr Pinkerton said he saw her killer Jake Davison with a “blank expression” after the shooting, and wishes he had been able to tackle the gunman.

He said: “(Davison) was staring through you basically. He was dressed in black – black T-shirt, big black beard, black curly hair, and walking like was on patrol, like a soldier with a gun.”

Mr Pinkerton believes he would have been the next person to be shot if the 22-year-old had more bullets.

He added: “He knew he had to have one for himself and that’s what he had left, because just after that, that’s when he shot himself.

“I’m not as fit as I used to be, but if that was back in the day I would have jumped him, even at his size.”

Mr Pinkerton said he acted instinctively when he rushed to Ms Shepherd’s aid and used the corner of her jacket to put pressure on one of her wounds.

He added: “I was speaking to her all the time – saying ‘help is on it’s way, help is on it’s way, you’re alright I’m here with you’.

“She had her eyes closed, she was trying to breathe.”

Mr Pinkerton kept Ms Shepherd conscious until paramedics arrived, but the 66-year-old later died in hospital.

Davison first shot his 51-year-old mother Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine Chapman, at a house in Biddick Drive in the Keyham area of Plymouth.

He then went outside on to the street and shot dead Sophie Martyn, three, and her father Lee Martyn, 43, in an attack witnessed by horrified onlookers.

He then killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before shooting Ms Shepherd.

Davison then turned the gun on himself.

The police watchdog will investigate Devon and Cornwall Police over Davison’s possession of a shotgun and shotgun certificate.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said it is looking into how he acquired the weapon and licence, after they were removed from him by officers last December following an allegation of assault in September.

Special prayers are set to be said in Plymouth later today as the city mourns the five victims.

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Churches across Devon, including St Thomas’ Church in Keyham, are expected to use their Sunday services to remember the victims, with a special prayer written by the Bishop of Exeter, Robert Atwell.

It comes as a former Metropolitan Police chief said officers should trawl through social media accounts of people applying for firearms licences to ensure that “guns do not fall into the hands of dangerous people”.

Former commissioner Lord Stevens told The Sunday Telegraph that Davison was “clearly a dangerous man”, adding: “The videos he made should have been taken into account when he applied for a shotgun licence.

“There needs to be a trawling of online content for an in-depth assessment of who these people are and what they think.”

Devon and Cornwall Police are encouraging people to come forward with information, and have set up an online platform to do so at mipp.police.uk/operation/50DC21E73-PO1.

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