Teenager injured in pellet gun attack

Nov 7 2007

A 14-year-old boy was hit in the face and neck by shotgun pellets after a gun was fired in the street, police said today.

The teenager was taken to hospital and released after treatment for his injuries which were “consistent with shotgun pellets”, following the incident in Huyton, Liverpool.

The incident follows the death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in the city earlier this year. He was shot in the neck by a hooded youth on a mountain bike as he walked home from football practice in the Croxteth area on August 22.

Officers were called to Reeds Road near to the junction with Bakers Green Road in Huyton at 8.30pm yesterday after reports of two men firing a shotgun in the street. The teenager was thought to be “some distance” away from the gun, police said.

A police spokesman said today: “It is not thought that he was the intended target of the incident and his injuries are not life threatening in any way. He was been taken to hospital and released after treatment.

“The scene has been cordoned off for forensic and ballistic searches, which are taking place today.

“Merseyside Police has increased it high visibility patrols in the area and are carrying out house-to-house inquiries.”

The men were both wearing black clothing and were seen escaping in a silver car, possibly a Ford Focus, in the direction of Adswood Road, police said.

A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service said: “We were called to the incident by police just after 9.10pm in the evening to a male in his teens who was suffering from minor pellet wounds to his face and head. We transported the patient to Alder Hey.”

Anyone with information about the shooting yesterday is asked to contact Merseyside Police’s gun crime hotline on 0800 458 1211 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.