The parents of an 11-year-old girl British girl shot dead while playing on her garden swing in France are from Oldham. Solaine Thornton and her sister Celeste, eight, were in the garden during a barbecue at their home in the village of Saint-Herbot, near Quimper, Brittany, when an elderly neighbour allegedly opened fire at them with a shotgun through a hedge, it is reported.
The suspect, a 71-year-old Dutchman, is reported to have been in a long-running row with the family over a plot of land beside their properties. Carine Halley, the state prosecutor in Quimper, said the child was dead when police arrived.
The girl and her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton, were reportedly named by mayor of Plonevez-du-Faou Marguerite Bleuzen. They are both reported to have been shot in the head. Mr Thornton is understood to be in a critical condition.
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An official at Plonévez-du-Faou, which is the local town hall for the family’s village, confirmed that Adrian and Rachael were born in Oldham and that Solaine and Celeste were born in France.
Guillo Régine, an administrative assistant at the town hall, said: “Mr and Mrs Thornton were born in Oldham in Great Britain. They have been living with us for about five years and were already living in France before their arrival. The children were born in France."
A local resident told French media the younger child raised the alarm, running to neighbours shouting: “My sister is dead. My sister is dead.”
Ms Halley said the child’s father was taken to hospital in a critical condition and initial evidence suggests “the suspect suddenly emerged armed with a gun and fired several times towards the victims”, it was reported. He is said to have then shut himself in his house with his wife.
Ms Halley told French journalists: “The motives for this tragedy are not yet known. It appears there had been a conflict between the two neighbours for several years over a piece of land adjoining the two properties."
The Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie tactical unit was called to the scene and a negotiator persuaded the neighbour and his wife to give themselves up before they were arrested, the prosecutor reportedly said.
An investigating source said test results showed he was under the influence of drugs at the time, according to the London Evening Standard. A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British family following a shooting in France and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Marguerite Bleuzen said the attack appeared to be connected to a “dispute between neighbours” over land and noise that dated back three years. “We knew the family well. There is a village fete every year and they always came. It’s completely incomprehensible to have shot a child. This happened without any warning,” she added. “Nobody can understand how this could have happened.”
