A woman who was shot dead in a Liverpool garden has been named as Ashley Dale.
In a further development to the case, Merseyside police have today (August 22) confirmed they believe the attack was targeted. But they do not believe the 28-year-old Knowsley Council employee was the intended target.
Emergency services rushed to the back garden of a house on Leinster Road, Old Swan, in the eastern side of the city, after reports for concerns of the safety of a woman at around 12.40am on Sunday, August 21.
At the scene they found Ashley had suffered gunshot wounds. She was given treatment in the back garden of the property before she was taken to hospital, where she was tragically pronounced dead, the Liverpool Echo reports.
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Tributes have been pouring in for the "beautiful" and "lovely" woman, with neighbours and friends expressing their "shock" and grief. Taking to Facebook, Paige Elizabeth said: "Heart breaking this. Rip Ashley taken far too young." Kayleigh Elizabeth Crowe replied: "Such a lovely girl."
An ECHO commenter said: "She is absolutely stunningly, beautiful like a model. What a waste of a clearly beautiful life she was living." Another commented: "Rip beautiful girl. You were taken far too young…deepest sympathy to your family thinking of you all."
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen said: "This clearly was a very shocking incident which has led to the death of a young woman. I understand how frightening incidents like this can seem to ordinary members of the public and in the coming hours and days we will be speaking to people living in the local and wider community to reassure them of the ongoing work we are doing to find the person or people responsible.
"Gun crime has no place on the streets of Merseyside and we will leave no stone unturned to bring those responsible for justice. An investigation is underway and a number of lines of enquiry are currently being investigated.
"The community, as always, are our eyes and ears and we know that there may be people living locally who saw or heard something in the early hours which may prove to be significant to our investigation. I would urge those people to please come forward and tell us what they know. If you live or work locally and have private CCTV or a Ring doorbell please check it to see if it captured anything which may assist us.
"Similarly I would ask taxi and delivery drivers if they were driving in the area to check their dashcam footage. We are particularly keen to find anyone who saw a vehicle being driven erratically in the area around Prescot Road.”
"Information and video footage can shared directly with the investigation team via the police public portal - Public Portal (mipp.police.uk). You can also contact us via social media @MerPolCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 22000615873."
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