Child shot in face by BB gun bought at summer festival
BB gun confiscated by Cambridgeshire Police from children in Chatteris. It was bought at a summer festival at the weekend from a stall. - Credit: Policing Fenland
A young girl was shot in the eye by a BB gun bought from a stall at Chatteris festival.
Police confirmed today that one of the guns that were being sold was seized from officers in Wenny Recreation Ground on Monday night.
A police spokesperson on Policing Fenland said: “This evening officers from the March Neighbourhood Policing Team seized a BB gun from a child in Chatteris.
“They were seen on CCTV messing around with the BB gun pointing and firing it at their friends in the Wenny park. “
The spokesperson said: “It has come to our attention that a number of youths may have ‘won’ or purchased these from the fair at the weekend.
“Please could all parents ensure their children are not in possession of these in a public place, or using them in any way to threaten/harm others.
“To the untrained eye they look very real.”
Most Read
- 1 Cambridgeshire hit by wave of catalytic converter thefts
- 2 Wife pays tribute to academic Andrew 'fascinated by the world'
- 3 Soldier takes on flag-raising duties at Commonwealth Games
- 4 Man dies after two-vehicle crash on A14
- 5 Cops catch out suspected drug driver who faked identity
- 6 Man suspected of touching child outside supermarket
- 7 Multiple crews called to ‘accidental’ building fire
- 8 Second man charged in connection with Mihai Dobre murder
- 9 Man who glassed another man in the head after a fight jailed
- 10 Slimming World consultant, Sharon, marks 25 years at organisation
One mother posted a photo of her daughter with the injuries received after being shot.
Police said they were “sorry to hear that” and posted the mum a link to make an official report.
The policing FB page was inundated with people concerned that the BB guns had been put on sale.
“Whatever were the festival committee thinking allowing these to be available on a stall?”, said one post.
Another wrote: “Shame on them, they were doing random bag searches for alcohol or drugs but apparently these were fine.”
Town mayor Cllr Linda Ashley responded on the Policing Fenland Facebook page.,
"I will respond to all your comments and will not comment any further,” she wrote.
“As a committee we were not aware these guns were being sold and did not allow/ agree to this .
“Once this was brought to our attention we asked the stall holder to stop this.
“We also confiscated all guns we saw at the event.”
Cllr Ashley added: “ I also took it upon myself to report it to the police because I was concerned about the mis-handling of them.”
Other posts said similar stalls “have been at other fairs over the summer.
“At the Yaxley festival I saw a bunch of young girls pooling their pocket money to buy one, but they didn't have enough.”
Another added: “Anybody who thinks it's OK to fire one of these in public is a complete idiot.”
