People who might be withholding information that could help solve three murder investigations in Liverpool have been warned they are protecting killers.
Three murder probes are underway in the city region after the violent killings of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 28-year-old Ashley Dale and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer. Merseyside Police have warned that 'silence is not an option' as they continue to investigate the incidents.
In a short but dramatic video appeal on Twitter, the force urged anyone with information to come forward. During the video, a voiceover states: "We’ve got parents who’ve lost their children.
READ MORE: Two men arrested on suspicion of murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel released on bail
"We’ve got a nine-year-old girl who won’t celebrate her 18th birthday. She won’t celebrate her wedding. She won’t have children of her own.
"If you’ve got information and you’re withholding it, you’re protecting the killers. We need your information. Provide that information to us and we’ll do the rest."
The video featured pictures of little Olivia and flowers at the scene where she was fatally shot. It has been almost a week since she was killed, when a gunman chased his intended target, who has been named as convicted burglar Joseph Nee, into her family home in Dovecot, also injuring Olivia’s mother, Cheryl, 46.
Two men arrested over her death were bailed ye sterday. A 36-year-old man, from Huyton, was recalled to prison after breaching the terms of his licence.
Both he and a 33-year-old man, from Dovecot, were arrested on suspicion of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
The force has previously released an image of a black Audi Q3, which has been seized and which they believe is the car used to take 35-year-old Nee to hospital. They are still appealing to anyone who saw the vehicle in the days leading up to the shooting, or has any information about its movements after leaving Kingsheath Avenue last Monday night, to come forward.
Images of Ms Dale and Mr Rimmer were also used in the video. Council worker Ms Dale was fatally shot in Old Swan, Liverpool, on Sunday August 21.
The 28-year-old, who worked in the environmental health team at Knowsley Council, was found fatally wounded in the back garden of a house. It is believed she was not the intended victim.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of her murder and a woman has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Mr Rimmer, 22, was shot in Dingle, Liverpool, on Tuesday August 16. A 23-year-old man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of his murder.
Three males, aged 21, 20, and 17, also from Liverpool, were also arrested for murder and have since been bailed. Police said there will be 'plenty of officers on patrol' in all three areas where the fatal shootings happened.
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