Read why a British girl was shot dead in France
An 11-year-old British girl who was killed while playing on a swing in her playground in France has been named Solaine Thornton.
The family had a barbecue on Saturday night when the firing took place in Saint-Herbot, north of Quimper in Brittany.
British girl shot dead while playing in her garden in France:
Her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton, were injured too and are being treated in hospital. Her dad suffered serious injuries, local press said.
The family were named by the Mayor of the commune where the family stayed, Marguerite Bleuzen. The Foreign Office confirmed it was assisting a British family.
The girl and her eight-year-old sibling were playing on a swing as their parents watched the barbecue when a neighbour started shooting at them with a shotgun through a fence.
The younger girl headed to another neighbour’s home to raise the alarm and is now scared. A local told the French press that the younger one ran to neighbours screaming: “My sister is dead, my sister is dead”.
The 71-year-old Dutch national suspect reportedly locked himself in his residence following the incident but, in the end, surrendered to the cops and was detained along with his wife.
Residents said the man was a hermit in conflict with the British family over a plot connecting the two properties.
Local press said the family had lived in the village for some years. Prosecutor Carine Halley said the events around the happening were not yet known.
Ms Bleuzen, the Mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou commune, stated: “We knew the family well. There is a village fête every year, and they always come. “It is incomprehensible to have shot a child. No one can understand how that could have happened.”
A UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office representative stated: “We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”
