British Girl Imani Green, Eight, Shot Dead in Jamaica 'Backwater'

An eight-year-old girl from Balham, south London, has been shot and killed while on a family holiday in Jamaica in a suspected revenge attack.

Imani Green was at a grocery store in the quiet north-coast town of Duncans, when a man entered the shop and an argument broke out.

Police report the man opened fire, aiming at people inside.

Imani is understood to have been hit twice, once in the head, and died later in hospital.

Her sister, Janella Parmer, told the BBC: "I picked her up off the ground and realised she was still breathing.

"I flagged down a car and they drove us to hospital."

Three other people, believed to be two women and a man, were also injured and are now said to be in a stable condition in hospital.

One of the victims is believed to be a female member of the family that runs the grocery store.

The eight-year old, whose family live in Balham, south London, suffered from the blood disease sickle cell anaemia. She was staying with her mother, sister and relatives in Duncans.

They had been due to return to the UK by the end of this month.

A BBC reporter said Duncans was seen as a "sleepy town and a backwater".

The shooting had "really come as a shock to that local community, crime is pretty much unheard of", he said.

The area recorded the second lowest figure for murder in Jamaica last year, he added.

Police said there were a number of lines of inquiry but one theory was that the shooting was in reprisal for an earlier gun attack.

The store where Imani was shot is owned by the child's cousin.

The Foreign Office has confirmed it has been providing consular assistance and liaising with local authorities since the shooting on 11 January.

Peter Kellond, the British Honorary Consul for Montego Bay, said: "This is obviously a desperately sad event and we are providing consular support to the family and other relatives."