An 11-year-old British girl was shot dead while her father was seriously injured when a Dutch neighbor in northwestern France opened fire, local authorities announced.
The family were in the garden of their house in the village of Saint-Herbot, near Quimper, in the Brittany region, on Saturday evening when the neighbor appeared with a firearm, the initial investigation revealed.
At around 10 p.m. local time, police intervened “after several shots fired,” Quimper’s district attorney Carine Halley said in a statement released Sunday.
The 11-year-old girl was found dead at the scene, while her father was seriously injured, according to the magistrate.
The mother’s life was not considered to be in danger and a second child was unharmed but “in a state of shock,” District Attorney Halley said.
The shooter has been identified as a 71-year-old Dutch pensioner.
While police were still trying to figure out the motive for the shooting, the prosecutor realized that neighbors had been feuding over land next to the two properties for years.
A police source told AFP the neighbor fired his shotgun through a hedge before retreating home with his wife.
Both the neighbor and his wife turned themselves in to authorities and were arrested.
The Public Prosecution Service opened an investigation into the charges of manslaughter of a minor and attempted manslaughter.
Source: DN
