Brittany shooting – latest: British girl killed during Saint Herbot barbecue over reported land dispute
The 11-year-old’s father was also seriously wounded following the attack on Saturday night in village of Saint-Herbot
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Your support makes all the difference.An 11-year-old girl from a British family has been shot dead in France and her father is fighting for his life following an attack on Saturday night.
The girl was reportedly playing on the swings while the family was having a barbecue in their garden in the village of Saint-Herbot in Brittany, western France, when a neighbour allegedly fired several shots at them at around 10pm local time.
The suspect – a 71-year-old Dutch national named as Dirk Raats – was arrested along with his wife, prosecutors said.
The child’s father, who was reportedly shot in the head, is in a critical condition at a hospital, while her mother received non-life-threatening injuries.
The girl’s eight-year-old sister managed to escape unhurt but was left in a state of “shock” after witnessing the shooting. According to a local resident, she raised the alarm, shouting: "My sister is dead, my sister is dead".
The killing of the British girl comes just days after another three-year-old British girl was among four children and two adults who were stabbed in a park by a man in Annecy in eastern France.
Neighbour ‘fired at family with shotgun through hedge'
The elderly neighbour reportedly fired at the family with a shotgun through the hedge.
The two sisters, Solenne and Celeste, were playing on the swings while their parents, Adrian and Rachel, were barbecuing, when a neighbour began firing at them with a shotgun through a hedge, reported the BBC.
Solene was killed in the attack and her parents were left injured.
‘The village is in shock’
The village is “in shock”, according to the secretary of the nearest town hall in Plonevez-du-Faou.
Regine Guillot said the British family had lived in the hamlet for five years and that the Dutch neighbour was a private man.
"There were neighbourhood issues, yes, a hedge, a field, but nothing more than that, not that we were aware of," said Guillot. "The village is in shock."
‘Incomprehensible to have shot a child,’ says mayor
Marguerite Bleuzen, Mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou, said it is “incomprehensible to have shot a child”.
Ms Bleuzen said: “The family was well known and liked. There is a village fête every year and they always came.
“It’s incomprehensible to have shot a child. No one can understand how that could have happened.”
Family had been ‘threatened’ by suspect
A neighbour said the family had been “threatened” by the suspect who “had weapons”.
“We knew that if anything went wrong, he had weapons,” she told Sky News. “The English family had been threatened by them and they’d already thrown their dogs at the English family’s two setter dogs
ICYMI: British toddler stabbed in French playground in separate incident
In a separate incident that happened last week, a British girl on holiday with her family in France was among four toddlers and two adults stabbed in an “odious and unspeakable” attack in an open-air playground by a man armed with a knife.
Witnesses described scenes of panic as screaming mothers sought to protect children from the assailant, who rampaged around a lakeside park in Annecy, in the French Alps. At least one child was stabbed in a pram despite desperate efforts by a woman to push him aside.
Video showed the suspect – later identified as a Syrian father who came to Europe a decade ago as a refugee – slashing at his victims and shouting “in the name of Jesus Christ”.
British toddler among six stabbed in French playground horror
Girl on holiday with family among four children – all aged three or younger – and two adults injured in savage attack by knifeman
Alleged killer and wife named
Solaine Thornton’s alleged killer was today named as Dutch national Dirk Raats, 71.
An investigating source said Raats remained in custody on Monday and was facing murder and attempted murder charges.
His wife, who was named as Marlene van Hook, also in her 70s, was being questioned on suspicion of concealing a weapon.
The couple were both retired and have lived in a converted school house in Saint-Herbot for six years, added the source.
Watch: Local resident speaks of feud between neighbours
We’re pausing our live coverage of the shooting in Brittany but keep checking independent.co.uk for the latest updates.
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