Target of Liverpool shooting that left Olivia Pratt-Korbel dead arrested as two sources 'name gunman'
24 August 2022, 08:21 | Updated: 24 August 2022, 10:52
A man who is believed to have been the target of the Liverpool shooting that left Olivia Pratt-Korbel dead has been arrested.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
He is thought to have ran into the family home as he was targeted in a shooting. He was detained in hospital and recalled to prison. The gunman remains at large.
Olivia, 9, was shot dead by a gunman as he chased an unrelated man into her home in Liverpool on Monday night, and her mother Cheryl was shot in the wrist.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen, of Merseyside Police, said in an update on Wednesday: "I can tell you the male I discussed at the press conference yesterday, who had been shot at and chased into the home address of Cheryl and Olivia, has now been arrested.
"That's not in relation to the murder of Olivia per se. The reason for that arrest is for breach of his existing licence conditions. The nature of that breach is for poor behaviour. He remains in hospital and, last update, he was in a stable condition."
Police have urged anyone who knows the masked gunman's identity to break their silence and tell officers who he is as they asked the city's "criminal fraternity" to give them information.
Two sources had given the same name to Merseyside Police by Wednesday morning.
Olivia was shot as a 35-year-old man, who was not known to the family, got into her terraced house in Kingsheath Avenue to try and get away from the shooter.
A gunman fired shots at two men walking along Kingsheath Avenue, and they both fled – one running into Olivia's home.
Her mother, Cheryl Korbel, 46, had opened the door after hearing gunshots. She was shot in the wrist as she tried to shut the door on the gunman.
The man who was trying to escape the gunman by running into the home was shot in his upper body, and taken to hospital by friends in a dark-coloured Audi as Olivia lay dying. The Audi was later seized.
Locals speculated if the killing was linked to an attack at a children's playground, Ackers Hall Park, near to Olivia's home, where a person fired from a dark-coloured car at a person on an electric bike.
A family friend in her 50s, who lives around the corner, said: "I knew Olivia from seeing her playing around here. Her dad is utterly devastated.
"The people who did it aren't bothered. They are feral. It was a nice area, but it's just sad the way things have changed."
A male neighbour told The Telegraph: "They were just innocent people – that's what makes it 10 times worse.
"They were quiet, respectable people. Knowing someone has been shot just because she opened the door. It's not right.
"It was the same people involved in the shooting a few weeks ago in Akers Hall park. We know it was. It is two rival gangs chasing after each other."
Boris Johnson described Olivia's killing as an "unimaginable tragedy" and vowed to give Merseyside Police whatever it needed to find the gunman.
The force's chief constable, Serena Kennedy, said it was a "shocking and appalling attack".
"We need to find all who are responsible for - not just the gunman, we need to find who supplied the weapon and who arranged this terrible incident,” she said on Tuesday.
"We will not rest until those who are responsible are put behind bars. I can guarantee that no stone will be left unturned."
Tributes have poured in for Olivia, who died after being taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
The head at her school, St Margaret Mary's Catholic Junior School in Huyton, describing her as "much loved", with "a beautiful smile, a lovely sense of humour and a bubbly personality".
The gunman is described as wearing a black padded jacket, a black balaclava with a peak, dark trousers and black gloves.
