Boy of six dies after being shot with air gun at great-granny’s
A BOY of six has died after being accidentally shot with an air gun while visiting his great-grandparents.
Police said Stanley Metcalf suffered ‘serious injuries’ when he was hit by a pellet and died later in hospital.
The incident is being treated as a ‘tragic accident’ and detectives are questioning family members to discover how the fun-loving schoolboy came to be shot.
He was visiting his great-grandparents Sam, 77, and Jennifer Grannon, 76, in the East Yorkshire village of Sproatley when the tragedy happened around 4pm on Thursday.
Stanley’s parents live in nearby Hull and his mother Jenny posted a photo of him in his football kit on her Facebook page as a tribute.
In a sad coincidence, the accident happened on what would have been the 55th birthday of the Grannons’ son Andrew, a fireman who died from a brain aneurysm in 2003. The Grannons have four other children, eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
No other details of the circumstances surrounding Stanley’s death have been released by Humberside Police and family members have been too upset to comment.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Goulding said: ‘We’re still investigating the circumstances of exactly what happened but initial indications are that this was a tragic accident.
‘We haven’t made any arrests in connection with the incident but we are speaking to a number of family members to assist us.’
A neighbour was seen standing in the street screaming ‘something terrible has happened’ as emergency services arrived at the house, which was cordoned off yesterday for forensic examination.
A licence is not needed for air guns below a certain size and police refused to comment on whether the weapon involved required one or who owned it.