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Two arrested following fatal shooting of council worker Ashley Dale in Liverpool
25 August 2022, 15:46 | Updated: 5 October 2023, 16:26
Two people have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of council worker Ashley Dale in Liverpool.
A man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Ashley Dale, 28, who was shot dead in her own home in Old Swan on Sunday.
Police say they believe Ashley was shot dead in a case of ‘mistaken identity’ in the back garden of a property.
Thugs are believed to have burst through the door of the three-bed terraced home and opened fire, killing her.
Merseyside Police said a woman had also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen said: “Inquiries are continuing around those two individuals."
"In my first appeal, I asked for people to come forward who were on foot in the streets in Leinster Road, and that appeal still stands."
The detective said there would have been people heading home from a night out, or "milling around in the street" and he urged them to come forward.
"If you have any information in relation to this murder investigation, please support the police inquiry," he said.
Ms Dale worked in the environmental health team at Knowsley Council, and was not believed to be the intended target.
Earlier this week, police released CCTV footage of a car being driven in Old Swan shortly before her killing.
Ms Dale was the half-sister of 16-year-old Lewis Dunne, who was shot dead in another case of mistaken identity in Liverpool in 2015.
In an appeal for witnesses two days ago, Det Ch Supt Mark Kameen said she was "an innocent member of the public" who had been "callously and thoughtlessly shot".
Her family said Ms Dale had been "a hard working young woman, who had her entire life ahead of her" and had "just been promoted at her job with Knowsley Council".
They said she had a degree and "so many plans for her bright future that had only just begun", adding that her "laugh, smile and energy was infectious in any room".
"We can't come to terms with how this would happen to a defenceless woman in her own home," they said.
"None of this makes sense and our lives will never be the same again.
"A senseless crime that has torn a family apart."