A British schoolgirl aged 11 has been shot dead during a family barbecue in northern France following a dispute with a neighbour “on drugs”, according to investigators.
Solaine Thornton’s mother and father were seriously wounded with shots to the head during the attack on Saturday night.
A Dutch neighbour, Dirk Raats, 71, is suspected of firing on the family through a hedge with a rifle while they were enjoying an evening barbecue in the hamlet of Saint-Herbot, near the town of Quimper in Brittany. Solaine was playing on a swing when she was shot.
Four members of the Thornton family were at home at the time —Solenne, her eight-year-old sister Celeste, and her parents Adrien and Rachel.
Celeste raised the alarm following the shooting by shouting “my sister is dead, my sister is dead” as she ran from gunfire.
After barricading himself in his house next door, the pensioner was arrested along with his wife by elite firearms officers at around 9pm.
An investigating source said: “Tests were taken following his arrest, and he was under the influence of drugs.”
The man has been placed in custody as a probe into “the murder of a child under 15, and two attempted murders” continues, a local police source said.
The Thorntons have lived in the property — a converted sawmill close to the local Catholic church — for a number of years, according to a near neighbour.
Solaine is believed to be a pupil at Jean Jaurès College, in Huelgoat.
Mr Thornton remained in a critical condition with life-threatening wounds on Monday, and his wife was also in intensive care at the Cavale Blanche hospital in Brest, where they both had surgery.
Local TV news footage showed forensic investigators at the scene of the shooting. A picnic bag and a bottle of fizzy pop lay abandoned next to a bench. Yellow numbered labels had been placed next to each item.
A direct neighbour of the Thorntons told La Telegramme that he saw the family under the oak tree at the bottom of their garden earlier that evening. He said: “The two little girls were playing near the games and on the swing, the parents were sitting on their usual bench and having a barbecue.” Marguerite Bleuzen, mayor of Plonévez-du-Faou, which covers Saint-Herbot, revealed there had been “some trouble with a neighbour dispute” between the two families since at least 2020.
“I intervened with my deputies when we were elected,” she said. “There was a problem with the land around their properties, and with noise pollution — it started from there.”
Following the official intervention three years ago, there had been “no emergency” but Ms Bleuzen was aware that arguments continued to simmer.
“We knew the family well. There is a village fête every year and they always came,” she said.
“It’s incomprehensible to have shot a child. No one can understand how that could have happened.”
The investigating source added: “They had been arguing for many years over a plot of land adjoining the two properties. Tensions clearly reached boiling point. The older girl was shot dead and her parents seriously wounded.
“The father, suffered a head injury and is critical in hospital, while the mother is also very badly hurt.
“The youngest child is the only one who is unscathed, having managed to flee to another neighbour’s house.
“The shooter locked himself in his home after the shooting so there was a brief siege. 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.”
People in the village called the Thorntons an “adorable, kind and helpful family”. Mr Thornton was well known in Saint-Herbot and surrounding countryside for helping out with DIY tasks.
The Foreign Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”
