This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Seven-year-old girl dies after being shot in head by father
(about 5 hours later)
A seven-year-old girl is gravely ill in hospital after it is believed she was shot in the head by her father who apparently then killed himself.
A seven-year-old girl who was shot in the head by her father, who then killed himself, has died in hospital.
Villagers in Northiam, near Rye, East Sussex, said the man turned up at his ex-partner's home before opening fire at about 4pm on Thursday. Armed officers who went to the scene in Spring Hill found a man's body in a car parked outside.
Villagers in the village of Northiam, East Sussex, said the man, named by police as Yasser Alromisse, turned up at his ex-partner's home and opened fire.
Sussex police said on Thursday night the girl was in a life-threatening condition with a gunshot wound in King's College Hospital, London. On Friday morning a spokesman said the girl remained "gravely ill".
Armed officers later found his body slumped in a parked car.
Officers said they believed the shooting was a "tragic domestic incident" and they were not treating the man's death as suspicious.
As the circumstances of the shooting emerged on Friday, Sussex police named the seven-year-old as Mary Shipstone, and said that she had died in King's College hospital, London.
One villager, Anthony Burr, said he had heard that a man went to his former partner's home and shot his daughter.
Neighbours said the gunman had been in a custody battle over the girl, who moved to the semi-detached house in the Spring Hill area of Northiam last year.
Burr, 37, who works in public relations, said: "At around 4pm, I came back and heard what I thought was a firearm about 200 yards from our house. Then my neighbour, who my kids were playing with, said there were reports that a father had shot his daughter and was still at large.
It is understood that the girl's mother had moved away from domestic violence and that her ex-partner had discovered her new address.
"Then I started to get reports that he had shot himself. What appears to have transpired is that a father has gone to his ex's house where his daughter lives and has shot her. This has all come from neighbours and eyewitnesses."
Mary was a pupil at Beckley Church of England primary school in nearby Rye. A spokeswoman for the school said: "This is a dreadfully sad and shocking incident and the whole school community will be praying for her and her family."
Another neighbour, Susie Clements, told the Daily Mirror that her son Ricky heard a woman screaming: "He's got a gun, he's got a gun," before two shots rang out.
There was a heavy police presence in Northiam, and the scene of the shooting was sealed off. Chief Superintendent Neil Honnor declined to comment on reports that Alromisse had turned the gun on himself, but said it was a "hypothesis that we are working with".
The girl was a pupil at Beckley Church of England primary school in nearby Rye. A spokeswoman for the school said: "We have received confirmation that the child who was shot is a pupil at our school. This is a dreadfully sad and shocking incident and the whole school community will be praying for her and her family."
Explaining how events unfolded, Honnor said officers raced to the house and immediately realised the girl was "gravely ill". He went on: "Some distance away in Northiam, in the Spring Hill area, we then found a vehicle that we believe was involved in the shooting.
There was a heavy police presence in the village, and the scene of the shooting was sealed off for detailed investigation. Ch Supt Neil Honnor, of Sussex police, said: "We are treating this as a tragic domestic incident and do not believe that anyone else is involved.
"We had to secure the vehicle with the containment and that was where members of the public were asked to stay inside their homes while we ensured the area was safe.
"At this stage we are not in a position to confirm the relationships of all those involved but we can say that the girl and the man knew each other. The man does not live at the address. We are treating this as an isolated incident and there is no evidence that any other members of the public are at risk."
"Some short time after, we managed to secure entry to that vehicle and found a man inside who was deceased."
