Olivia Pratt-Korbel's friends miss 'really kind' schoolgirl
The fact that Olivia was an innocent victim of gun crime has not been lost on the children of the Dovecot area, as Chloe Keedy reports
Friends of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot dead in her home in Liverpool, have said her death still hasn’t sunk in.
The schoolgirl died on Monday night after a man was chased into her home, in the Dovecot area, by a gunman who killed Olivia and injured her mother Cheryl, 46.
Those who knew her wanted to share their memories of “really kind” Olivia.
“She was really nice, she was really kind, really energetic. I’ll remember her by how funny she was, she was really funny,” said Thomas Clements, who used to play with Olivia and their friend Zac Goldsmith.
“We’ve talked about it, and we’ve all been sad,” said Zac. “She never went to double digits, so it’s sad.”
“Because we knew this girl really well and it’s not really fair for her to just pass away like that,” Thomas added.
On Thursday, Olivia’s family appealed to people to “do the right thing” and help find out “who took our baby away from us” as they paid tribute to her.
'I’ll remember her by how funny she was'
“If anyone knows anything, now is the time to speak up. It is not about being a ‘snitch’ or a ‘grass’, it is about finding out who took our baby away from us.
“Please do the right thing.”
At a youth centre named after Joseph Lappin, who was stabbed to death aged 16 in 2013, children told ITV News how police had visited to reassure them.
One girl said she had been left to feel angry by the recent spate of violence in Liverpool, while another said she is “worried” it could happen in their own city.
Sonny Hawkins said at the centre: “I feel like it should come to a stop because innocent lives are being ended for no reason at all, because people either want revenge or just doing it for fun.”
“And it should be stopped.”
He added: “A life might not seem like a lot but it is to family, it is to friends.”
In searching for the gunman, Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen warned the killer on Thursday: “We will not rest until we find you, and we will find you.”
'We will not rest until we find you - and we will find you', Detective Chief Superintendent Kameen vows to Olivia Pratt-Korbel's killer
Merseyside Police said a 36-year-old man, from the Huyton area, had been arrested on suspicion of Olivia’s murder and two counts of attempted murder after an operation involving armed officers on Thursday night.
He is currently in custody being questioned by detectives.
Olivia’s family paid tribute to her, describing her as “unique, chatty, nosey little girl who broke the mould when she was born.”
They added: “Although her life was short, her personality certainly wasn’t and she lived it to the most she could, and would blow people away with her wit and kindness.”
Convicted burglar Joseph Nee, 35, from the Dovecot area of Liverpool, has been named as the intended target of the shooting.
As Olivia lay dying, he was picked up by friends in a black Audi Q3 and taken to hospital.
A message on a box of flowers left among tributes at the scene read: “So sorry for your loss of beautiful Olivia. Rest in peace, thinking of all family. Nee family.”
Olivia’s death came 15 years after 11-year-old Rhys Jones was shot dead on his way home from football practice in Croxteth, Liverpool.