News - Middle East: At least 1 person has been killed and 4 others injured in a shooting incident on Christmas Eve at a pub in northwest England.

The incident took place in the early hours of Sunday night, when a gunman entered the Lighthouse pub in the town of Wallasey in Merseyside, shooting a 26-year-old woman in the head and injuring 4 other people, with one of them remaining in critical condition.

Detective Superintendent David McCaughrean was at pains to say that the attack was “a truly shocking and devastating incident that has happened just before Christmas Day in a busy venue full of young people.”

The woman died at a hospital “with an injury consistent with a gunshot wound,” the police force said in a statement.

Police have not detained any suspects so far, but investigators are seeking witnesses as well as any video footage to figure out what happened.

“We believe that the gunman left the pub car park in a dark colored vehicle, possibly a dark colored Mercedes shortly after the shooting, and we are keen to hear from anyone who saw this to contact us immediately,” McCaughrean said.

Merseyside Police's assistant chief constable Jenny Sims also called on the public and the local community to share any relative information they might have about the incident.

“I urge members of the public and the local community who have any information which could help us come forward, so we can bring those responsible for this ‘horrific murder’ of a young woman at Christmas to justice,” she said.

In a separate statement, the Lighthouse Inn called the shooting “a tragedy beyond words”, adding that “we are completely shocked by this and were expecting to host a number of people for Christmas Day meals, but sadly this is no longer possible.”

Meanwhile, the minister of a nearby church depicted the shooting as a “shock” to local residents due to the location of the pub.

“We’ve got a lot of young people, families in that area. The Lighthouse is central in that community,” Jeffrey Hughes, minister of the United Reformed Church, said.

Speaking to Britain’s Press Association news agency, he stressed that the violence “shows us that even though we celebrate Christmas, we’re still very far from those ideals (of peace) as a society.”

The development comes on the heels of a similar shooting tragedy in Paris, where a gunman killed three members of a Kurdish community, erupting fierce protests across the capital.