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

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 Knotty Ash 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 appealing for dashcam, CCTV and mobile phone footage from anyone in the area at the time. We're at just one side of an extremely extensive cordon around where this shooting happened.

There's a very big police presence here.

There is currently another murder investigation under way in Liverpool - hours after police said on Monday they were aware there was sometimes a culture of "not grassing" to police.

Officers said people must get beyond that culture and must come forward with information.

That applies in this tragic case of the death of a nine-year-old girl.

Presentational grey line

It comes after a spate of killings involving guns and knives on Merseyside.

On the same night as the shootings, a man was arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was found with a stab wound in her chest in a pub car park in Kirkby.

In a separate incident, 28-year-old Knowsley Council worker Ashley Dale died after being shot in the Old Swan area of Liverpool early on Sunday.

Police are also still searching for two people who fled on electric bikes following the fatal shooting of Sam Rimmer, aged in his early 20s, in Toxteth late on 16 August...