Brit girl, 11, shot dead and dad seriously hurt as 'neighbour opens fire at BBQ'
An 11-year-old British girl has been killed after a gunman opened fire in France.
The girl was fatally shot while her father was seriously injured in the incident in the hamlet of Saint Herbot, Brittany, on Saturday evening, French authorities have reported.
It's understood the shooting took place at a barbecue and occurred off the back of an ongoing dispute between neighbours in the village.
Both the girl's parents have been injured and another child - the girl's eight-year-old sister - is meanwhile said to be "in shock".
The suspect, a 71-year-old Dutch national, has been arrested alongside his wife, local media reports.
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Local residents said the girls had been playing on swings in their garden while the family were tending to a barbeque when a man came out of his house and opened fire.
The garden where the shooting took place on Saturday evening (Sophie Prévost / The Telegram)Local media reports that the younger child then raised the alarm, running to neighbours shouting: "My sister is dead, my sister is dead".
Carine Halley, a prosecutor in Brittany, has said the exact reasons for the shooting had yet to be verified but it was understood it came off the back of an ongoing dispute between neighbours over a plot of land between two properties.
The Times has named the father and the girl as British national Adrian Thornon and his daughter, Solenne.
The Thornons had lived in the property – a converted sawmill close to the local Catholic Church – for ‘ a number of years’, according to a near neighbour.
"The shooter locked himself in his home after the shooting so there was a brief siege," said the source.
A British girl aged 11 has been shot and killed following reports of a neighbour dispute in France (stock image)"After some negotiation, the suspect gave himself up without a struggle, and he was arrested, alongside his wife. He had retired to Saint-Herbot around six years ago."
Solenne Thornon was believed to be a pupil at Jean Jaurès College, in the town of Huelgoat.
Her parents, who both work locally, were taken to La Cavale Blanche hospital in Brest.
Marguerite Bleuzen, the mayor of the town of Plonévez-du-Faou where the shooting occurred, said: "We knew the family well.
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"There is a village fête every year and they always came.
"It is incomprehensible to have shot a child. No one can understand how that could have happened."
The UK Foreign Office said it aware of the shooting and "offering consulate assistance’".
Quimper prosecutor Carine Halley said: "An investigation has been opened into the murder of a minor and three attempted murders."
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