BB guns are not toys – police

Police are warning of the dangers of air guns after three separate incidents in which two children and a lorry driver were shot with a BB gun in Heywood.

At about 6.00pm on the 17 August 2011, a lorry driver reported that some youths had fired a pellet through his window as he drove past them on Peel Lane, hitting him on the wrist.

At the same location later the same evening, at around 7.15pm, an 11-year-old girl was shot in the neck on Peel Lane by a 10-year-old boy.

He will now take part in restorative justice.

At about 1.00pm on the 19 August 2011, a four-year-old boy was accidentally shot in the face with a BB gun by one of his friends, an 8-year-old girl. He suffered a minor facial injury.

PC Fran Powell, said: "BB guns are not toys and I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is to fire such a weapon at another person.

"It is only by chance that no one has been injured and I want children and their parents to be aware of these incidents before someone suffers a more serious injury."