Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9, shot dead in Liverpool home as her mum desperately tried to keep gunman at bay

The first image of a little girl shot in her home by a stranger in a balaclava while playing with her mum and siblings has been released. Olivia Pratt-Korbel was tragically shot in Liverpool last night (August 23) as her mum tried to keep the lethal violence unfolding outside from spilling into her house.

Merseyside Police have today said that little Olivia was left to die by a group of men who brought unwanted terror to their home as the country has been left in shock. The Liverpool ECHO has now released a picture of the 9-year-old smiling in the sun, an image that will bring sadness to many with young children and relatives.

Olivia was fatally wounded as she stood behind her mum when a gunman opened fire through a gap in the doorway at the front of her home yesterday night. Police said at a press conference that a gunman wearing a balaclava approached two men on Kingsheath Avenue, in the Dovecot area of the city, and opened fire at them just before 10pm.

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Olivia's mum Cheryl opened the front door to see what was happening before one man forced his way into her home, followed by the gunman. A number of shots were fired before one bullet hit Cheryl in the wrist and Olivia in the chest.

Soon after this a black Audi took an injured man, who the family did not know, to hospital, leaving little Olivia in her doorway dying with her mum. Officers then arrived and the scene and rushed Olivia to Alder Hey before North West Ambulance Service took her mum to Aintree Hospital. A police scene remains in place while police hunt for the gunman and others involved in this shocking incident.

This is the latest in a shocking series of violence to blight Liverpool