Four men arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool have all been bailed, police have said.
A 34-year-old man from Liverpool was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder on Sunday but he has now been bailed by Merseyside Police. A 34-year-old man, a 41-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, who were all arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, have also been bailed.
The news comes after Olivia’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, made a plea for those responsible for her daughter’s murder to come forward.
“You know you’ve done wrong, so you need to own up,” the 46-year-old, who was shot in the wrist in the attack, said.
Olivia was killed when a gunman chased another man into her home in Dovecot, Liverpool on 22 August. The young girl was shot in the chest by the attacker. Neither of the men who entered the home had any links to the family, it has been reported.
Ms Korbel said in a video appeal: “Like I taught my kids, you do something wrong, you own up to it. If anyone is hiding these guns they need to speak up because they need to be off the streets.
“No one, no one at all should have to go through this.”
Police have previously arrested two other men in connection with the death. They too have been released on bail. One of the men, aged 36, was recalled to prison after breaching the terms of his licence.
Olivia’s father, John Francis Pratt, paid tribute to his daughter, saying she was a “real bright spark who loved to laugh”.
He urged anyone with information about her death to come forward. “Words can’t express the pain we are going through after Olivia was so cruelly snatched away from us.
“Those responsible need to know what they have done.”
He said his daughter was a “proper wind-up merchant and loved to wind her nieces up, particularly those who were older than her.
“And when they didn’t like it, she’d just laugh and say ‘don’t forget I’m your aunty’.”
“Olivia’s death cannot be in vain,” he added, “and we want people to feel safe and be safe. That can only happen if we call come together and make sure there is no place for guns, or those who use guns on our streets or in our communities.”
Nine-year-old Olivia ‘loved to laugh’, her father said
