A 12-year-old girl has died after being shot in the head by her older brother in what neighbours believe may have been a tragic accident.

Detectives were preparing last night to question her 16-year-old brother about what happened in the family’s semidetached home in Gorton, Manchester, on Monday evening.

Neighbours described how the teenager rushed out of the house at about 7.30pm screaming: “Get an ambulance, I have shot my sister.”

Superintendent John O’Hare, based at nearby Longsight police station, suggested that the boy’s younger sister, Kamilah Peniston, was the latest victim of inner-city gun culture.

“It is a tragic event which will receive a full and thorough investigation,” he said. “Our hearts go out to the family. It really does bring home the tragic and really evil consequences of firearms within our community.”

A handgun that had been converted to fire live ammunition was recovered from the house. Mr O’Hare refused to give any details about the gun beyond that it was sufficiently powerful to kill with one shot.

The brother and sister moved to Gorton from Hulme, an inner-city area, with their mother, Natasha, and seven-year-old twin sisters three years ago. The quiet residential street beside a large urban park must have seemed a refuge from the gang culture, drug dealing and casual violence that scars life in Hulme and neighbouring Moss Side.

The family was popular with neighbours, who described the children as delightful, often playing games and riding bicycles on the pavement. The teenage boy is said to have been devoted to his sisters.

It is understood that Kamilah was shot once in the lounge at a time when there were no adults in the house.

Mrs Peniston is said to have been attending a funeral in London and was not at home when police received an emergency call. A firearms unit discovered the child with a single wound to her head, and arrested her brother on suspicion of attempted murder.

Hawa Kamara, 39, a housing officer who lives near by, was alerted when she heard someone shouting: “Call the ambulance, call the ambulance.” She ran downstairs and outside. She said: “It was the girl’s brother. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ and I saw him holding his sister on the ground. She was struggling. She just had a mark on her forehead.

“I could not believe it. I have never seen a gunshot wound in my life. There was a lot of blood on her coat. He was holding her and cradling her.”

Frances Smith, 45, another near neighbour, described how the teenage boy emerged from the house. He was “absolutely screaming” at a passer-by to call the emergency services.

She said: “He came running out of the house. If he had done it on purpose he would not have reacted in that way.”

The girl was taken to hospital but died at about 9am yesterday. Mrs Peniston was said to have remained at her daughter’s bedside throughout the night.

Forensic science officers in white suits worked inside the modest red-brick house throughout the day.

Residents spoke of their shock. Mrs Smith said of the boy: “He was devoted to all his sisters, but that one in particular used to be in the street with him most nights, having a laugh and joke.”

He still attended a school in Hulme but the dead girl went to school locally. A family friend said: “After school she would go to Levenshulme Library for two or three hours to revise and do her homework. She was a really clever girl.

“Her brother is a really nice guy who plays football in the field with the lads. He is not a troublemaker and does not hang about in gangs.”

Mr O’Hare said that he could not go into any detail about the weapon beyond describing it as a “Section 1 firearm” which “should not have been on the premises”.

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