Liverpool shooting: Girl, 9, shot dead and two injuredon August 23, 2022 at 10:33 am

A nine-year-old girl has died after being shot in Liverpool.

An unknown man was reported to have fired a gun inside a house in the Dovecot area at 22:00 BST on Monday.

The girl was shot in the chest and died in hospital. A man also suffered gunshot wounds to his body and a woman was shot in the hand.

Merseyside Police has put a cordon in place as officers hunt the gunman. Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said the shooting was “truly shocking”.

“No parent should ever have to suffer the loss of a child in these dreadful circumstances,” she said.

“This crime is abhorrent and our communities must come forward and tell us who is responsible.

“This cowardly individual does not deserve to be walking the streets and I would urge those who know anything to speak to us and tell us what they know so that we can put the person responsible behind bars where they belong.”

The girl’s next of kin has been informed.

The injured man and woman were taken to hospital after the shootings in Kingsheath Avenue.

Police said house-to-house and forensic inquiries would be carried out.

The force has been appealing for dashcam, CCTV and mobile phone footage from anyone in the area at the time.

West Derby’s Labour MP Ian Byrne, whose constituency includes the street, said residents were “all struggling to process it as a community”.

He said he would be asking his constituents to “help the police and give them as much information as possible”.

The girl’s death comes after a spate of killings involving guns and knives on Merseyside.

On the same night as the shootings, a woman was found with a fatal stab wound in her chest in a pub car park in Kirkby, while on Sunday, 28-year-old council worker Ashley Dale died after being shot in the Old Swan area of Liverpool.

Police are also still searching for two people who fled on electric bikes after Sam Rimmer, who was in his early 20s, was shot in Toxteth on 16 August.

Monday was also the 15th anniversary of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was mistakenly shot by a gang member in Croxteth on his way home from football practice in 2007.

Andy Gill, BBC News

An extremely extensive cordon has been set up around where this shooting happened and there is a very big police presence in the area.

This is the second murder investigation into a fatal shooting in the city in two days and Merseyside Police have said they were aware there was sometimes a culture of “not grassing” to police.

However, officers have urged people to get beyond that culture and come forward with information.

Labour’s Paula Barker, the MP for Liverpool Wavertree, said the girl’s death was “obviously devastating” and the “mindless violence simply has to stop”.

“I think, as a city, we come together in adversity and I know people in Liverpool will be absolutely horrified this morning,” she said.

Liverpool city councillor Harry Doyle, who represents the area, said what had happened was “absolutely abhorrent” and the community was “in utter disbelief”.

He added there was “absolutely no place for this sort of violence on our streets”.

A woman who lives nearby, who asked to remain anonymous, said the shooting made her worry for her own children.

“It’s devastating. It can’t carry on like this,” she said.

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