Authorities in France have named the 11-year-olkd British schoolgirl who was shot and killed over the weekend. An 11-year-old girl from a British family was shot dead in France while her father is seriously injured, according to reports.
A neighbour is said to have shot at the girl on Saturday evening in a hamlet near the city of Quimper in the western province of Brittany. Her eight-year-old sister was left in “shock”, local media reported.
Solaine Thornton was killed while her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton, were also hurt and are in hospital.
Her father suffered serious injuries, local media reported.
The family were named by the Mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou, Marguerite Bleuzen.
The Foreign Office is providing assistance to her family.
A spokesperson said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”
The suspect, who is a 71-year-old Dutch national, has been arrested, according to local prosecutors.
Carine Halley, the state prosecutor in Quimper, said initial evidence suggests “the suspect suddenly emerged armed with a gun and fired several times towards the victims”, the newspaper reported.
He is reported to have then shut himself in his house with his wife.
The Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie tactical unit was called to the scene and a negotiator persuaded the neighbour and his wife to give themselves up before they were arrested, the prosecutor reportedly said.
A local resident told French media that the younger child raised the alarm, running to neighbours shouting: “My sister is dead, my sister is dead”.
The Times said the family-of-four are believed to have lived in their current home for about four or five years and that the two girls were born in France.
Marguerite Bleuzen, the mayor of the nearby village of Plonevez-du-Faou, is reported to have said the family were well-known and came to the village fete.
Marguerite Bleuzen, the mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou commune, said: "We knew the family well. There is a village fête every year and they always came.
"It is incomprehensible to have shot a child. No-one can understand how that could have happened."
