Beijing: An eight-year-old boy in China has critically wounded his four-year-old playmate by firing over 100 steel pellets into her body, state media reported on Wednesday.
The girl, nicknamed Xiaoximei, was injured by the boy who was allegedly trying to stop her from getting on the second floor of a house in a village in south-central Hunan Province on August 9, state-run People's Daily Online reported.
The boy fetched a gun, "possibly trying to scare the other kids away," Chang Yi, the girl's father said adding that his daughter got shot because she was standing in front of the group of kids present there.
Seeing that Xiaoximei was injured, other children ran to get help.
More than 100 pellets remain in the young girl's body after a four-hour surgery, it said citing a Xiaoxiang Morning Herald report.
According to Huang Bin, a senior nurse at the ICU of Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, the girl's wounds spread across her ribcage to her right arm and abdomen.The steel pellets also affected her heart and liver.
The daily published the X-ray of the girl's body riddled with pellets.
"The (pellets) are relatively small, and move even without much force. More surgery could cause additional damage to the child's body. Some [of the pellets] can stay inside if they do not affect her organs," Huang noted, adding the girl is also being treated for tetanus in case any of the pellets cause the infection, the report explained.
Xiaoximei's mother said the family chose not to call the police because they are acquaintances of the boy's family, and know his parents cannot afford expensive surgeries.
Chinese citizens are not allowed to possess guns without formal approval.
Violators can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison, noted Hunan-based lawyer Xiong Lin, adding that the boy's family could be held criminally accountable if the gun was found in illegal possession.
