Keir Starmer has met police probing the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
The Labour leader, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper held talks with officers investigating the horror shooting.
A Labour source said: “It was really important for Keir and Yvette to go and speak to these officers after the unthinkable killing of a nine-year-old girl in her own home and to thank them.
“They heard how hard these officers were working but also how much they cared about finding the killer.”
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The Labour pair went to the Liverpool headquarters of Merseyside Police.
The party’s annual conference is taking place in the city until Wednesday.
Olivia was fatally shot in the chest in her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, on August 22.
Her mother, Cheryl Korbel, 46, was injured as the gunman chased his target, convicted burglar Joseph Nee, into their property at about 10pm.
Detectives have said "silence is not an option" as a reward offered in the hunt for the killer was hiked to £200,000 last week.
Police have arrested nine men as part of their investigation into her death but all have since been bailed.
