TRAGIC Olivia Pratt-Korbel was caught in a the crossfire of a revenge attack during a brutal gangster war, her neighbours have claimed.
The innocent nine-year-old was getting ready for bed when her mum Cheryl Korbel heard shooting and opened their front door.
A man, 35, who had been targeted as he walked in the street with a friend, barged into the semi pursued by the balaclava-clad gunman.
Cheryl desperately tried to barricade the door as bullets ripped into the home in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.
Olivia is believed to have been hit in the chest, Cheryl in the hand and the targeted man was struck twice in the body.
Now neighbours have told how they believe the young tot died in a "tit for tat" gang attack.
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Speaking to MailOnline, one local claimed: "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."
It comes as yesterday we told how as Olivia lay dying on the floor, callous friends of the injured man then arrived, carried him to their black Audi and took him to hospital — without bothering to check on the family.
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Hunt for balaclava-clad gunman who killed Olivia, 9, after opening fire at home
Olivia was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital by police but pronounced dead a short time later.
Her grieving mum is being cared for by doctors at Aintree Hospital in the city.
Other family members in the house at the time were unharmed.
Police said the family had no connection to the two men who forced their way into their home at 10pm on Monday.
The injured man, who had not been arrested, was in a serious but not life-threatening condition.
Hours after Olivia had been named as the victim, Luke Korbel, who is believed to be her cousin, wrote on Facebook: “What the f***s the world come to ay?
“Would never even think of wishing any of this on me worst enemy.
“The most cleverest 9 year old your going to get, had the brain like an 18 year old she did, most funniest and politest always had a smile on her face we all know you will keep smiling up there, your going to be missed be each and every single one of us you really are, Liv.”
A resident added: “I’m going to have to tell my child that her friend is dead and I don’t really know how to do that. It’s awful.”
Sky football pundit and former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher tweeted: “Gun & knife crime in this country & especially in my city right now is out of control, we need greater sentences for people found guilty of this crime. This story is heartbreaking.”
Addressing the killing at a press conference yesterday, Merseyside Chief Constable Serena Kennedy appealed for help from Liverpool’s underworld by saying Olivia’s death “crosses every single boundary”.
She said: “We will not rest until those who are responsible are behind bars.
“Her family are absolutely devastated, inconsolable and heartbroken.
“I know that the murder of Olivia has rocked our communities, who are quite rightly upset and outraged that such an abhorrent crime has occurred here on the streets of Merseyside.
“This is not the time for anyone who knows those responsible for the shooting to remain tight-lipped.
“This is a shocking and appalling attack which will reverberate around our communities, and I want 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.”
Chief Constable Kennedy added: “It is believed that a 35-year-old man was being chased by a man armed with a gun.
“The man being chased forced his way into Olivia’s house and the offender ran in after him, firing a number of shots with complete disregard for Olivia and her family, who have no connection with the gunman or the man who fought his way in.
“Sadly, Olivia was fatally injured when a gunman fired at the man, who was trying to get into the house and her mum also suffered a gunshot to her wrist. The 35-year-old-man, who had been chased, suffered a number of gunshots to his upper body. Whilst Olivia lay dying, he was picked up by his friends who took him to hospital.”
Det Chief Supt Mark Kameen, leading the murder hunt, said the 35-year-old man and a friend were walking down the street when an armed man wearing a balaclava began shooting at them.
He added of the tragedy: “A shot has been fired which we believe has hit Cheryl, injuring her and then fatally wounding Olivia.
“Olivia at that time, we believe, was stood directly behind Cheryl.
“Despite the horrific circumstances, the attacker has continued the assault and has continued to try and gain entry to the property, in doing so has then fired two further shots at the 35-year-old man who was, at this point, inside Cheryl and Olivia’s home address.
“The attacker has then left through the front door and has made off on foot.”
RHYS JONES ANNIVERSARY
Monday night’s tragedy came on the 15th anniversary of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, mistakenly shot on his way home from football practice in Croxteth, just three miles away.
Wannabe gangster Sean Mercer, then just 16, was later convicted of his murder.
Yesterday Chief Constable Kennedy added: “His (Rhys’s) murder should have been a watershed moment in the battle against gun crime and the use of guns on our streets.
“But shockingly, there are callous criminals who are prepared to use weapons on our streets and have utter disregard for the heartache and pain they have caused to Olivia’s family.”
Relatives and young friends of Olivia yesterday laid tributes and heartfelt notes to her outside the house in Kingsheath Avenue.
Olivia’s headteacher Rebecca Wilkinson paid tribute to a “bubbly” schoolgirl with a “beautiful smile” who had just performed in a Wizard of Oz production.
Ms Wilkinson, head of St Margaret Mary’s Catholic junior school in Huyton, said: “Olivia was a much-loved member of our school.
“She had a beautiful smile, a lovely sense of humour, and a bubbly personality.”
Olivia’s killer is described as slim, 5ft 7in, wearing a black padded jacket, black balaclava with a peak on it, dark trousers and black gloves.
The murder also came less than 48 hours after council worker Ashley Dale, 28, was shot dead after a gunman broke into her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Graduate Ashley was found in her garden suffering from gunshot injuries.
Cops investigating her murder say while they believe the gunman intended to target her house, Ashley was not the person they wanted to harm.
Meanwhile, a woman named locally as Karen Dempsey, in her 50s, was stabbed to death during an altercation outside the Brambles pub in Kirkby, Merseyside, at 8pm on Monday.
Data has shown there was a ten per cent increase in knife crime across England in the year to March, with more than 49,000 offences recorded.
In London, cops have launched 67 homicide investigations since January, with high-profile murders including the killing of pensioner Thomas O’Halloran just last week.
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