The "needless loss of life must stop" says a council leader who warns "enough is enough".
Merseyside was shocked to the core after several murders in one week - one of them a nine-year-old girl. On Monday, Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot and killed by an intruder at her home in Dovecot.
Paying tribute to the young girl who "loved life and all it had to offer", the family said: "Although her life was short, her personality certainly wasn’t and she lived it to the most she could." A 36-year-old man has since been arrested on suspicion or murder and remains in custody. He has also been arrested on two counts of attempted murder.
READ MORE: Man arrested on suspicion of murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel
Her death sent shockwaves across the country. On that same night, Karen Dempsey, 55, was stabbed to death after trying to break up a fight. Merseyside Police have since c harged Karen's son Jamie Dempsey, 32, of Brechin Road, Kirkby with her murder.
Ashley Dale, a well-liked and much respected 28-year-old Knowsley Council employee, was shot dead by a gunman who forced his way into her Old Swan Home. Arrests have since been made in relation to this shooting, as her family paid an emotional tribute to her.
Just a few days before, Sam Rimmer was also murdered on the streets of Dingle with shots fired by four men riding bikes. Following a spate of gun and knife crime that has impacted significantly on communities in Knowsley, council leader Cllr Graham Morgan said "enough is enough".
He added: "These incidents in isolation are heart-breaking, but to see three completely innocent lives lost to such violence in just two days is extremely difficult to comprehend. Enough is enough, it just has to be. These are truly horrendous incidents, and innocent people are literally getting caught in the crossfire."
Cllr Morgan appealed directly to those involved in criminality to search their hearts and stop more lives being lost, and more families devastated. He also appealed to anyone who has information about any of the incidents which may help bring those responsible to justice.
He said: "Perhaps you carry a weapon, and maybe you tell yourself it’s for ‘self-defence’. Or maybe you’re involved in the drugs supply chain.
"Whatever role you play, you’re supporting and enabling the kinds of criminal gangs and criminal activity which are devastating lives. When a weapon is present, lives are more easily lost. Please, stop and think about the harm and pain that you are causing to so many people."
He added: "Now is not the time to be silent. There are people out there who know who shot Ashley and Olivia and the only right thing to do is to share what you know. Give those families a chance to get the answers they need and the justice they deserve.
“Both Ashley and Olivia were killed in their own homes, the place where they should have been safe. Can you really have it on your conscience that these two innocent young people have lost their lives, that parents will be burying their children, and all because of criminal activity they had no involvement in?
"I’m also acutely aware that a family in Kirkby are mourning the loss of a mother and a grandmother, a death that would not have happened if someone had not chosen to go out that night with a knife.
"My heart goes out to everyone who has been impacted by these three tragedies, especially the loved ones of the victims. This needless loss of life must stop. Enough is enough. You have a choice – don’t carry a weapon and show these people the door – we should shun everybody involved in the criminal behaviours which are blighting our lives."
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