A 19-year-old girl has been killed in a 'truly shocking and senseless' shooting in Blackburn.
Police were initially called to the scene near Lidl at 3pm following reports a female was unresponsive after gunshots were heard.
She was taken to hospital with serious injuries but sadly died, police confirmed tonight.
Formal identification has yet to take place but officers believe she is a 19-year-old from Blackburn, reports LancsLive.
Her family have been informed and are being supported by specially-trained officers.
Police have now launched a murder investigation.
DCI Jonathan Holmes, of the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “This is a truly shocking and senseless killing, which has robbed a young woman of her life.
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“Although the victim has yet to be formally identified, we believe she was a young woman from the local area. Her family have now been informed of her death and they are understandably utterly, utterly distraught.
"Our thoughts are very much with them, and her wider family and friends, at this awful time."
A Home Office post-mortem will take place in due course to establish the cause of death, though it is thought at this time that she died from a gunshot wound.
Police have launched an appeal to help find anyone involved in the shooting.
“We believe a light-coloured Toyota Avensis – possibly metallic green – may have been involved in the incident.
"A car matching the same description has since been recovered from nearby Wellington Road and we are now asking anybody who saw a car matching this description in either location to get in touch as soon as possible.
“We would also like to hear from anybody who has dashcam, CCTV or mobile phone footage of the incident, and who has not yet been spoken to by police.
“We know that King Street will have been busy around the time of the incident and we are confident there is someone, or several people, out there who know what happened.
"We understand people may be reluctant to come forward during this time, especially if they have not been following the government guidelines about staying at home, but we would reassure them that our immediate concern is to find out what happened.
“We urge anyone who has any information, no matter how insignificant they may feel it to be, to come forward and speak to us as a matter of urgency.”
Anybody with information is asked to get in touch straight away on 101, quoting log number 817 of today (May 17).
Alternatively independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
