POLICE are investigating after two 11-year-olds were shot by someone with a ball bearing gun in York.

The incident happened as the Manor CE School pupils were walking home, separately with friends, along Boroughbridge Road, near to the News and Booze Shop, at about 4pm on Tuesday.

The girl suffered a pellet mark on her back, which caused bleeding, and the boy was left with a bruised leg with a red mark where the pellet had struck.

The girl Hannah Dixon, 11, said the bullet went through her coat, school jumper and shirt and left her with a bleeding flesh wound.

The terrified girls made their way home to Hannah’s mum, Judith Dixon, in Lindsey Avenue after the incident.

“Hannah thought someone had thrown a stone at her back, but when her friend had a look they realised she had been shot,” said Mrs Dixon.

“She’s been left with a pellet mark on her back which keeps bleeding and is really badly bruised. I am absolutely appalled. It could have been so much worse if she had been hit in the head.

“There were other children there at the time and another Manor School boy was hit in the leg around the same time as Hannah was hit. There was nobody else around at the time, it could have come from a house window, but we just don’t know. It makes me feel very scared and I have kept Hannah off school.

“It’s just awful to think that you can’t send an 11-year-old child to school and know they will be safe on the journey home – you don’t expect them to be shot at in broad daylight.”

Yesterday police stepped up patrols outside the school and all pupils at the school were warned to take care walking home.

Deputy head teacher, Dave Crane, confirmed two Year 7 pupils had been involved in an incident outside school hours.

Mr Crane said: “The school has put out a warning to all our students to be extremely careful on their way home from school.

“We know from the children’s parents that the police are involved and we know that the police are interviewing the children who are the victims.

“We are treating it very seriously and we have let the whole school know that the police are dealing with it and we will be working with them on this.”

There are 640 pupils at Manor CE School and Mr Crane said he had been at the school for 30 years and there had been no similar incidents in that time.

Investigations into the incidents are ongoing and anyone with information that could help identify a suspect or suspects should contact York police on 0845 6060247. Information can also be passed on anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


N Yorks Police issue alert over ‘BB’ guns

A NORTH Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “Not only do ball bearing guns, or BB guns, have the potential to cause serious injury, the teenagers who carry and use the weapons can be put in danger if armed police officers are called out to a reported ‘firearms incident’.

“Imitation or replica firearms can look like a viable weapon. Until you actually have them in your possession, it is impossible to know whether they are real or replicas and our officers have to deal with them as a real threat.

“The teenagers might think that their behaviour is harmless fun. But apart from hurting people by taking pot-shots, the reality is that these firearms look so convincing that the police might react as though they were the genuine article.

“Any report of a firearm in a public place is subject to a strict intelligence-led process and if there is evidence to suggest that it might be a genuine firearm, then we have to send our specially trained units to deal with it.

“A BB gun is an imitation firearm, but if it is in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse and being used with intent to cause fear or violence, then it can carry a large penalty. Under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, it can mean up to five years’ imprisonment.

“It is also against the law to sell an imitation firearm to someone under 18, or for someone under 18 to buy an imitation gun. Parents are urged to take a sensible approach and simply not purchase such weapons for their children – they are definitely not harmless toys.

“It is not worth the anguish of putting your child in a dangerous situation or for the potential for them to get in serious trouble with the law.”