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 huge 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.
A cordon is also in place and police said house-to-house and forensic inquiries would be carried out.
The force is appealing for dashcam, CCTV and mobile phone footage from anyone in the area at the time.
It comes after a spate of killings involving guns and knives on Merseyside.
On the same night as the shootings, two men were arrested over the fatal stabbing of a woman in her 50s in Cherryfield Drive, 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 inner-city Toxteth late on 16 August.
Source: BBC
Image source: Pixabay
