A nine-year-old schoolgirl who was shot dead in Liverpool last night had a 'beautiful smile, a lovely sense of humour and a bubbly personality', the headteacher of her school has said.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed when a gunman forced his way into her home in Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot at 10pm. The nine-year-old was hit in the chest by a bullet and was tragically pronounced dead after being rushed to Alder Hey Hospital.
The appalling news has shocked the city and the region and today the headteacher of Olivia's school, St Margaret Mary's Catholic Junior School in Huyton, spoke about a wonderful and bubbly little girl who would always try to help others.
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Rebecca Wilkinson said: "Our school community is devastated at the sad loss of Olivia. We are in shock and disbelief at such tragic news.
“Olivia was a much loved member of our school. She had a beautiful smile, a lovely sense of humour, and a bubbly personality. She was kind hearted and would go out of her way to help others. She loved to perform and recently participated in the school production of The Wizard of Oz.
"Olivia will be missed greatly by staff and children at our school. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends at this extremely sad time.”
The leader of Knowsley Council, Graham Morgan, paid his own tributes, he said: “I am shocked and saddened to hear about Olivia’s untimely and tragic death. She had her whole life ahead of her and it is hard to comprehend her having it cut short in such terrible circumstances.
"I know that Olivia was a popular pupil at St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Junior School in Huyton. She enjoyed school, had lots of friends, and would go out of her way to help others.
"We will ensure that the staff and pupils at the school are given whatever support they need at such an awful time for them. My thoughts and condolences go to Olivia’s family and friends at this very sad time.”
Speaking at a press conference today, Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: "This is a shocking and appalling attack which will reverberate around our communities, and I want to take this opportunity again to appeal to anybody who knows who was responsible for this attack to please come forward and give us those names.
"We need to find all who are responsible for this. Not just the gunman, we need to find who supplied the weapon and who arranged this terrible incident.
"We will not rest until those who are responsible are put behind bars. I can guarantee that no stone will be left unturned. I recognise how incredibly frightening this is for our communities, as well as the other murders that we've seen this week at the hands of firearms. People will see a significant increase in the number of police on the streets of Merseyside over the next coming days."
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