Churches in Plymouth have used their Sunday services to remember the five victims of a mass shooting in the city on Thursday.

Prayers were said for the victims and their loved ones at churches across the city and Devon following the tragedy, which has shocked the nation. 

Among the victims were three-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father Lee Martyn, 43. Gunman Jake Davison, 22, also killed his mother, Maxine Davison, 51, before taking his own life.

At St Thomas' Church, in the Keyham area of the city where the shooting occurred, Father David Way said it had been "a time of shock and sadness and horror" for the area, the BBC reports. 

"But it's also a time of hope. We have to have faith and hope at this time," he said. 

A special prayer has been written by the Bishop of Exeter, Robert Atwell: 

God of compassion and love,
Let your peace rest gently on the people of Keyham,
Particularly on those who have lost family, friends or neighbours.
Watch over them in their grief.
Keep this community safe as it seeks time to heal,
and neighbours rebuild their lives in friendship, trust and hope;
for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

St Thomas' is one of the churches in the city that has remained open since Thursday to offer a space for prayer and reflection for members of the local community. 

"We stand with the community of Keyham," said the Diocese of Exeter.

"We are working alongside other local organisations and will continue to offer whatever pastoral and practical support we can.

"We think of Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem and the way in which God himself feels our pain and takes it on himself. We weep with those who weep."

Rev Gareth J Higgs, Superintendent of Plymouth Methodist Mission, Rev Andy Chislett-McDonald, Superintendent of the Plymouth & Devonport Circuit, and Rev Graham Thompson, Chair of Plymouth & Exeter District, have also issued a prayer to be used for the community of Keyham and Plymouth: 

Loving Father, we hold before you the community of Keyham and the city of Plymouth. We pray for all those who are suffering injury and trauma as a result of the events of this week. We ask for your strength for those who ran towards danger, for those in the response services that stepped forward and risked their own lives. We pray too for those who are dealing with the aftermath.

We think especially of those who, in their loss and grief, are trying to deal with the emotional results and come to terms with loss and their impacted lives.

May all those who suffer know that the God of all power holds their hand in gentle love.

Amen.

They added, "The Methodist Church has had a presence in the community of Keyham for generations as part of the Plymouth Mission Circuit, and even though our regular work in our premises there is currently paused, the legacy of faithful and prayerful community-facing ministry is acutely felt in times of crisis.

"We stand alongside our community in its grief and mourning, and through the ministry of our two circuits, seek to offer signs of hope and healing to those among whom we minister."