Liverpool shooting: Girl, 9, shot dead and two injured

( BBC )

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

A man was reported to have fired a gun in a house on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot at 22:00 BST on Monday.

The girl was shot in the chest and died in hospital, while 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."

A force spokesman said the girl's next of kin have been informed and were "being supported by specially trained family liaison officers".

He said the injured man and woman were taken to hospital after the shootings and house-to-house and forensic inquiries were being carried out.

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".

Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson said it was an "appalling act of evil" and urged anyone with information to "come forward", adding: "Guns have no place in our communities."

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.