An eight-year-old boy shot and killed near a farm in Cumbria was allegedly hunting for rabbits at the time of the shooting.
Police rushed to a hillside close to Wheatsheaf Farm, near Warcop in Cumbria, on Saturday afternoon following reports a child had been ‘seriously injured by a firearm at the property’.
The boy later passed away in hospital following severe injuries to the head and face, and a man in his 60s has been arrested in connection with the incident.
The boy died after the shooting at a farm in the Warcop area, Cumbria (Picture: Frank Chalmers / SWNS)
It is believed both the youngster and the shooter were hunting rabbits at the time of the shooting.
A source told The Sun: ‘They had permission to be on the land. There’s been an agreement in place for years for them to rabbit there.’
Footage appears to show detectives scouring a nearby field after an investigation was launched.
Locals said they spotted officers and paramedics ‘purposefully marching’ across a small field off the A66 just moments after the shooting.
Frank Chalmers, 73, said he saw a handful of police cars and an air ambulance at the farm at about 3pm as he was driving past to his house in Brough.
He told the Sun: ‘I was just passing by in the car when I saw the police and an air ambulance.
‘It is the most awful tragedy for the family and the community.’
Two other eyewitnesses reported seeing crime scene investigators in white suits and stick markers about an hour after the emergency services were alerted.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, described first coming across the incident at about 3pm when heading out towards Penrith.
They said: ‘I saw the medical emergency helicopter in the small field. There’s a level field and then a field rising quite steeply up to where the solitary police car was.
‘It must have just been called in. I think everything was happening at that time.
‘Police had arrived on mass and medics were marching up the field with a purpose.
Part of the farm where the eight-year-old boy suffered fatal injuries (Picture: William Lailey / SWNS)
‘I’ve since been told that the boy has passed away.’
A mother, who also lives in the village, told the Mirror: ‘We don’t know fully what happened yet. I have heard that he didn’t go to the school in Warcop. I read earlier that it was an accidental discharge of the weapon. A lot of us have kids of that age. It’s a very tight knit community.’
She added: ‘We all have kids at that school so there was panic this morning that it may have been someone we knew. I read an e-mail from our school saying the victim didn’t go there so we don’t know where they were from. It is quite shocking and you really feel for the family. It is terrible news.’
The force said: ‘Officers arrested a man in his 60s at the scene on suspicion of assault GBH.
‘He remains in police custody but is now under arrest on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.’
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