A primary school pupil who died after being shot in the chest has been named as Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
The nine-year-old girl was killed shortly after 10pm on Monday night after a 35-year-old man, being chased by another man with a gun, forced his way into her house.
Olivia’s mum, Cheryl, tried to prevent him from entering the property and received a gunshot wound to the wrist. As she struggled to close the door, the same shot that hit Cheryl went on to fatally wound Olivia.
The intruder was shot in the body before he fled the scene.
Friends of the man who forced himself into the house picked him up from the streets and took him to hospital “while Olivia lay dying”, said Chief Constable Serena Kennedy. The vehicle they traveled in has now been seized.
Police were called to a house on Kingsheath Avenue, Knotty Ash, following reports an unknown male had fired a gun inside.
Olivia was taken to Alder Hey hospital in critical condition, where she later died.
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The man and her mother are being treated in hospital for their injuries.
‘Not the time to remain tight-lipped’
Chief Constable Kennedy said her “family are absolutely devastated, inconsolable and heartbroken”.
She added: “I know that the murder of Olivia has rocked our communities, who are quite rightly upset and outraged that such an abhorrent crime has occurred here on the streets of Merseyside.
“The people of Liverpool and Merseyside are known for their compassion and pulling together in times of crisis, and I know that our communities, people are wanting to help the family in any way possible.
“This is not the time for anyone who knows who’s responsible for this shooting to remain tight-lipped.
“It is time for our communities to come together with us and make Merseyside a place where the use of guns on our streets is totally unacceptable, and those who use them are held to account.”
Chief Constable Kennedy said: “Poignantly Olivia was killed on the 15th anniversary of the death of Rhys Jones.
“His murder should have been a watershed moment on gun crime and the use of crime on our streets.”
Olivia’s loved ones are the third family to lose someone to gun crime in Merseyside in the last week.
Liverpool assistant mayor Harry Doyle said the incident brought back memories of Rhys Jones, who was fatally shot in Croxteth 15 years ago.
He said: “I remember the atmosphere in the city, and not just the city actually, nationwide, around the shooting of Rhys Jones was just absolutely awful.
“I remember my family being equally – I look at families this morning on the doorsteps – as worried and concerned and devastated.
“My mum wouldn’t let me walk to school around that time. It is unthinkable and it’s unbelievable that this has happened again 15 years on.
“We thought we’d rid ourselves of this violence and this week we’ve seen it return.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel has offered her “heartfelt condolences” to the family of the nine-year-old shot dead in Liverpool and promised Merseyside Police her “full support”.
“The force has my full support and will receive any additional resources they need,” she said.
Innocent people ‘caught in the crossfire’
Father John Ealey, whose parish includes Kingsheath Avenue, said the community has been left “stunned”.
“It is a very poor area,” he said. “There is lots of relative poverty.
“Lots of drug dealing going on and people being injured as they are caught in the crossfire.”
He asked people to pray for the family and the community, saying incidents like this are “happening more and more”.
