Six-year-old boy dies in air gun ‘tragic accident’
Child succumbs to his injuries after falling victim to shooting incident at great-grandparents’ home
A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy died after being shot with an air gun at his great-grandparents’ house in what police described as a “tragic accident”.
Stanley Metcalf was being looked after by Albert and Jennifer Grannon, 77 and 76, his mother’s grandparents, when he was injured at their home near the end of a cul-de-sac in the village of Sproatley, East Yorks.
Police were called to the property at around 4pm on Thursday and Stanley was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary with serious injuries but later died.
Friends of his parents, Jenny Dees, 40, and Andrew Metcalf, 39, described the child, a keen footballer affectionately known as “Stan the man”, as “a beautiful boy inside and out”.
One said he was “always happy, always smiling, always dancing”.
Detectives have not made any arrests and said they were investigating the circumstances of the incident and whether the owner of the gun had a licence, or indeed needed one.
Mr Grannon is said to have been taken ill following the shock of his great grandson’s death.
DCI Mark Goulding, of Humberside Police, said: “Initial indications are that this was a tragic accident involving a pellet air gun.
“We haven’t made any arrests in connection with the incident, but we are speaking to a number of family members to assist us with our inquiries.
“Our thoughts are with Stanley’s family, who have asked that they be
‘We haven’t made any arrests, but we are speaking to a number of family members to assist us’
given privacy at this very difficult time.”
Ms Dees has another child, Elsie, with Mr Metcalf and two older children, Ellie, 18, and Daniel 20, with her former husband, Darren Brown. The family live seven miles from the Grannons in Hull.
There are an estimated six million air rifles in England and Wales, which are generally used for target shooting or killing vermin.
Those more powerful than 12ft/lb require firearms certificates.
Mark Mastaglio, a leading forensic firearms scientist, told The Daily Telegraph: “Unfortunately, these fatalities are not unprecedented. There is usually about one a year.
“Legally, they should be locked away and should not be loaded.
“Certification depends on the kinetic energy of the pellet.
“The vast majority in circulation are not over the limit, so no certificate is required but they can cause lethal injury and legally have to be securely stored.
“We don’t know the circumstances of this case but it should not have been loaded and should have been under lock and key.” The law states that children under the age of 14 may handle low-powered air rifles and air pistols on private property if supervised by an adult aged 21 or over.
Anti-gun campaigners who want air guns to be licensed, described Stanley’s death as “completely unnecessary”. A spokesman for the UK Gun Control Network, established to campaign for progressively tighter controls on guns in the aftermath of the Dunblane shootings of 1996, said: “Once again, we are faced with yet another death of a child and we’re not even into the first week of the summer holidays.
“This is an appalling, very sad and completely unnecessary incident. Air guns need to be licensed in England – full stop. If Britain had these laws then the gun would have been locked away and just like other rifles and shotguns, a licence and medical certificate would have to be provided for people being allowed to keep them.
“How many more children are going to die playing around with air guns?”