The nation was rocked as news spread of a mass shooting that claimed five innocent lives in Plymouth.

The incident took place on Thursday, where three women and two males were shot by a man later identified by police as 22-year-old Jake Davison.

One of the victims was his mother, 51-year-old Maxine Davison, police confirmed, while another was reportedly a three-year-old girl.

Police said the incident, was the worst mass shooting in Britain since 2010.

The incident has awoken harrowing memories of Cumbria’s own deadly shooting on June 2, 2010.

Lone gunman and taxi driver Derrick Bird took the lives of 12 people and injured 11 others.

The shooting began in Lamplugh and went on to Frizington, Whitehaven, Egremont, Gosforth, and Seascale.

Thirty crime scenes across Copeland were investigated in connection with the shooting.

The rampage ended when the perpetrator committed suicide.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison said: "I like many across Copeland would have remembered our own devastating incident of 2010 when learning about those who have lost their lives in Plymouth.

"I’m sure all our thoughts and prayers will be with those affected, who may have lost loved ones and friends as the community comes to terms with what has happened."

The Cumbrian shooting remains the worst shooting in Britain since 1987.

Whitehaven trader Gerard Richardson said: “It’s a tragic situation and who knows what was going through the mind of the guy responsible.

“It’s a very complicated situation and you can’t believe someone would do that, considering one of the victims was a young child.

“It was like with Derrick Bird, no one knew until it was too late that he was unstable.

“This isn’t a perfect world and the investigation will no doubt reveal more.

“You can’t help but feel for the victim’s families. They must be going through hell at the moment.

“The impact their loss will have caused will be unbelievable.

“But no matter the reason the bottom line is it’s so random and so unfair that this happened. We send our prayers to the families of the victims.”

Following the Plymouth shooting, calls went out on social media for individuals not to share pictures or videos of the incident as to not cause alarm or confusion.

Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall said: “I think it’s important to stress that these are incredibly rare occurrences in this country thank goodness, but that does mean when they occur, they have a real impact in the local community, and across the entire country as we saw in Cumbria in 2010.

“Our thoughts and commiserations are with the families and friends who were affected by the tragic loss of life of those six people.

“Our thoughts also go out to the officers involved in the situation and we hope they can find out exactly what happened so lessons can be learned.

"It doesn’t help when theories and speculation come around which can cause necessary concern.

"Our prayers go out to Plymouth.”