Merseyside Police have issued a stern warning to people who may be hiding facts about the nine-year-old’s death. Olivia died when a gunman broke into the family’s home in the Liverpool suburb of Dovecot last Monday night while chasing another intruder. He opened fire, shooting the girl in the chest and injuring her mother. In a shocking video, police have warned that people are protecting the killers if they withhold information about the murder. Shotguns are being smuggled into the city from Eastern Europe, with shotguns being stolen from rural farms by drug gangs in the county, the Mirror reported. Police use sniffer dogs as they investigate the scene of Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s death in the Liverpool suburb of Dovecot Olivia Pratt-Korbel, nine, was murdered inside her family’s home when a gunman in a balaclava burst in at night chasing drug dealer Joseph Nee. Olivia’s mother, Cheryl, was also shot in the wrist and Nee was seriously injured Police are using sniffer dogs as the investigation into the young woman’s death entered its sixth day Liverpool united in grief after Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9, was shot dead last Monday The paper reported that shotguns, or “shotguns,” are the most wanted weapons in the city, according to an anonymous tipster. That’s because it’s harder for firearms experts to spot bullets from a shotgun, they said. “If you want a gun, you can get one very easily,” said another source. “Hidden throughout the city are all kinds of shooters. Shots, nines (9mm pistols) and even submachine guns – MP5, Heckler & Kochs. Ex-soldiers bring them from Northern Ireland. You just have to get the word out and you can get one in a day or two.’ Pistols bought for less than £200 and brought into the country from Bulgaria are also converted in ‘factories’ to ‘fire live cartridges’ before being sold for £2,500. However, thugs who can’t afford to buy one of the guns rent them all over the city. These are understood to include the Makarov, Zoraki and Grand Power pistols — which are hidden in locks and concessions. A young girl pays tribute at Kingsheath Avenue, Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where Olivia Pratt-Korbel was fatally shot Tributes of flowers lie alongside a soft toy and messages in tribute to Olivia, who was killed on Monday Thugs across the city can order smuggled and stolen pistols, shotguns and machine guns from hidden locations within “a day or two”, it has been reported Makarov, Zoraki (pictured) and Grand Power pistols are understood to be hidden in lockers and partitions and available for hire by thugs And the shotguns are selling for around £4,000 after being stolen from farms across Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire, Shropshire and Wales as part of county line operations. They can also be hired for £500, the Mirror reported. In 2020, Merseyside Police created a Firearms Investigation Unit after gun crime reached its highest level in 20 years. Rates have been rising since 2015, but the city has seen cases decline slightly over the past two years. Last year nearly 100 weapons, including 36 firearms and more than 800 rounds of ammunition, were handed in during a gun amnesty, the Sunday Times reported. In a short but dramatic video appeal on Twitter, Merseyside Police warned that anyone withholding information should give it up In the video, Merseyside Police appealed for information into the deaths of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale and Sam Rimmer. As part of its ongoing investigation into the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel and other recent murders in Liverpool, Merseyside Police have again urged the public to come forward and help. The force also had sniffer dogs at the scene today as officers continued to search for clues that would lead them to the little girl’s killer. “Search” dogs were spotted from a cordoned off area outside her home in Knotty Ash. It has been almost a week since Olivia was fatally shot when a gunman chased his target, who has been named as convicted burglar Joseph Nee, into her family home in Dovecot, also injuring Olivia’s mother Cheryl, 46. In a short but dramatic video appeal on Twitter, Merseyside Police warned that anyone withholding information should give it up. During the video, a voice states: “We have parents who have lost their children. “We have a nine-year-old girl who will not celebrate her 18th birthday. She will not celebrate her wedding. She won’t have children of her own. “If you have information and withhold it, you are protecting the killers. We need your information. Give us that information and we’ll do the rest.” In their first statement since Olivia’s death, the family said she was a “unique, talkative, carefree girl” who “loved life and everything it had to offer”. People lay flowers and read tributes to Olivia that have been placed on Kingsheath Avenue A tribute from Liverpool Football Club was left at Knotty Ash among other flowers Everton Football Club said in a tribute that Olivia is “forever in our thoughts” In addition to images of Olivia and flowers at the scene of the shooting, the video also includes images of Ashley Dale and Sam Rimmer. Council worker Ms Dale was fatally shot in the Old Swan, Liverpool, on Sunday 21 August. The 28-year-old, who worked in the environmental health team at Knowsley Council, was found fatally injured in the back garden of a house. It is believed that he was not the intended victim. Sam Rimmer, 22, was shot dead in Dingle, Liverpool on Tuesday 16 August. Two men arrested in connection with Olivia’s death were released from prison on Saturday. A 36-year-old man, from Huyton, was recalled to prison after breaching his license conditions. Both he and a 33-year-old man, from Dovecot, were arrested on suspicion of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Two men arrested on suspicion of murdering nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel have been released on bail. Merseyside Police announced yesterday that one of the men, a 33-year-old man from Dovecot (pictured walking away), had been arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder. Merseyside Police have released aerial footage showing the moment the first suspect, a 36-year-old man, was arrested in the Huyton area on suspicion of murder. Merseyside Police appealed to the public to come forward with information “so we can build a strong body of evidence and bring those responsible to justice”. The force previously released an image of a black Audi Q3, which was seized, which they believe is the car used to take 35-year-old Nee to hospital. They are still appealing for anyone who saw the vehicle in the days leading up to the shooting or has information about its movements after it left Kingsheath Avenue last Monday night to come forward. Olivia’s death came two weeks after shots were fired less than 500 yards from her front door. Her death is the third fatal shooting in Liverpool in less than a week and comes 48 hours after council worker Ashley Dale was murdered. Ashley Dale, 28, was murdered at her home in Old Swan, Liverpool on Sunday. Police do not believe the two murders are connected Sam Rimer was shot and killed last Tuesday before two men fled the scene on electric bikes Neighbors suggested the attack may be linked to the shooting at the playground on Finch Way on August 8, where gunmen in a dark-coloured car shot a man on an electric bike. No one has been arrested in connection with the incident. A resident said he saw a black Audi after the shooting. He said: “I don’t know if it’s the same car that was involved in Olivia’s shooting, I hope it wasn’t, but I reported it to the police and it wasn’t followed up on. This is heartbreaking, it makes you want to cry.’ In other appeals on social media, police have insisted that “silence is not an option”. Warning that there is “no hiding place for anyone involved in little Olivia’s murder”, they added: “We need names.” Former Liverpool FC player Ian Rush (right) and former Everton player Ian Snodin added wreaths to the other flowers, balloons and teddy bears left in Olivia’s memory at the police cordon Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson paid a touching tribute wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘RIP Olivia YNWA’ Assistant Mayor of Liverpool Harry Doyle said people had come forward in the days since the killing because they “want to see justice” for the little girl and her loved ones and that the arrests had brought “a sense of hope and relief”. Olivia’s family urged people to “do the right thing”, saying that speaking out “isn’t about being ‘mean’ or ‘grass’, it’s about finding out who took our baby.” In a touching tribute, Liverpool FC captain Jordan Henderson wore a ‘RIP Olivia YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone)’ lettering for the team’s Premier League win against Bournemouth on Saturday.
