An 11-year-old British girl has been shot dead in France after a reported row between neighbours.
She was reportedly killed while playing in the garden of her home in Saint-Herbot, a village in Brittany, at about 10pm local time on Saturday.
French media reports said the girl’s parents were injured in the attack and described her younger sister as being in ‘shock’ after the shooting near Quimper in Brittany on Saturday evening.
The girl’s father was seriously injured and her mother was less badly hurt in the attack, while her eight-year-old sister managed to escape without injury and raised the alarm. She is said to be in a state of shock.
Residents in the village of Saint-Herbot described the eight-year-old younger sister of the tragic girl shouting: ‘My sister is dead, my sister is dead’.
A local prosecutor said the reason for the attack is being ascertained but noted a years-long dispute between the family and their neighbours over a plot of land.
A Dutch national and his wife have reported been arrested in connection with the crime.
The Foreign Office confirmed it was providing assistance to a British family following a shooting in France.
Marguerite Bleuzen, the mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou commune, said: ‘We knew the family well. 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 suspect, who is a 71-year-old Dutch national, has been arrested, according to local prosecutors.
