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British authorities are desperately searching for a gunman who shot a 9-year-old girl dead in Liverpool on Monday night during a botched assassination attempt, a crime that has sent shockwaves through the country.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was at home with her mother in the Dovecot area of the city in northwest England when there was a noise outside at around 10 p.m. on Monday, Merseyside Police say. Olivia’s 46-year-old mother, Cheryl Korbel, opened the door to her house to see what was going on, at which point a 35-year-old man forced his way inside. The man—who police say was not known to Korbel—was trying to escape a masked gunman chasing after him.
Korbel tried to close the door on the gunman, but he responded by firing indiscriminately into the house. The terrified mother was hit in her wrist while her daughter, who was standing behind Korbel, was struck in the chest by the same bullet. The man who barged into the family home to flee the gunman also suffered gunshot wounds to his upper body during the attack.