Plymouth shooting: Suspect’s hate-filled Youtube account taken offline
A hate-filled Youtube account belonging to the suspect in a mass shooting that killed five people in Plymouth yesterday has been taken offline.
The account, named Professor Waffle, included a number of videos by 23-year-old Jake Davison, who has been named locally as the gunman.
It has now been removed and the page shows a message saying that the account violated Youtube’s guidelines.
A spokesperson for Youtube said it had been removed because Youtube prohibits accounts belonging to people responsible for carrying out attacks.
Police have confirmed that two females and the three males, including the suspected gunman, had died after a shooter went on a rampage in the Keyham area of Plymouth yesterday evening. Another female, treated at the scene for gunshot wounds, died later in hospital, while a “very young girl” was among those killed.
An unconfirmed number of people are also being treated for injuries in hospital. Police have stressed that the incident was not terror related.
Incel videos
Videos posted to the now-removed account showed Davison launching lengthy diatribes saying he was “defeated by life” and comparing himself to the titular character of sci-fi film The Terminator.
In his final video posted on 28 July the apprentice crane operator complains about his failure to find a girlfriend and his social isolation.
He describes himself as an incel — short for involuntary celibate — an online subculture of men unable to attract women sexually.
The movement is often defined by misogynistic beliefs and has been linked to previous acts of violence, including the 2018 van attack in Toronto that killed 10 people.
In one video Davison describes women as “very simple-minded”, adding: “Why do you think sexual assaults and all these things keep rising? The reality is that women don’t need men no more and they certainly don’t want and don’t need average men and below average, you have to go abroad to find a woman.”
Davison’s videos also signal that the suspect had an obsession with guns.
The emergence of the Youtube account will raise further questions about the way tech giants deal with harmful material posted to their platforms.
Youtube says its policies prohibit content that incites violence, including encouraging others to go to a particular place to commit violence or to perform violence at a particular time. It is not clear whether the company has specific rules relating to the incel movement.
A Youtube spokesperson said: “Our hearts go out to those affected by this terrible incident. We have strict policies to ensure our platform is not used to incite violence.
“In addition, we also have long standing policies that prohibit those responsible for attacks like these from having a Youtube channel and have since terminated their channel from our platform.”