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Officers remained at the scene on Tuesday
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A 12-year-old girl who was shot in the head in an incident at her
house in Manchester has died in hospital.
Police
were called to reports of the shooting at an address on Wembley Road,
Gorton, at about 1930 BST on Monday.
She was
rushed by ambulance to Manchester Royal Infirmary but died on Tuesday
morning, police said.
Her
16-year-old brother, who was arrested on Monday evening, is still being
questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.
The girl
had been transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital for treatment for
the gunshot wound but died just before 0900 BST, Greater Manchester Police
(GMP) said.
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 I
was sleeping in the house when I heard someone shouting, 'Call the
ambulance, call the ambulance' 
Haw Kumara, neighbour
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Chief
Superintendent John O'Hare described said: "At this moment in time it
is treated as a tragic event which is receiving full and thorough
investigation.
"Our
hearts go out to the family. It really does bring home the tragic and
really evil consequences of firearms within our communities."
The
shooting happened at a house in a council estate in Gorton, where police
were standing guard on Tuesday morning.
Neighbour
Haw Kumara, 39, described how she saw the arrested boy "cradling"
his sister outside their house while screaming for help.
Ms
Kumara, a mother-of-four, said: "I was sleeping in the house when I
heard someone shouting, 'Call the ambulance, call the ambulance'.
"I
ran downstairs and went outside and said, 'What's going on?' I saw the
brother holding the sister on the ground, cradling her."
Chief
Supt O'Hare told a news conference in Manchester the weapon involved was
"powerful":
"It's
a weapon that you shouldn't have and it's a weapon that shouldn't have been
with the individual last night," he said.
Tony
Winter, the local street pastor, said the shooting sent a stark message.
"We
don't realise when we have these weapons around that they don't have
feelings and they don't have favourites," he said.
"Sometimes
it takes a tragic event like this to re-focus our minds on the dangers of
guns, or even knives, in our communities."
Forensic
officers were at the scene on Tuesday examining the house and the street
outside. Gorton lies about four miles (6.4km) outside the centre of
Manchester to the east of the city.
Although
a poorer and run-down district of the city, the area is not known for gun
crime and is currently undergoing regeneration.
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