JOHANNESBURG
(AFP) – A seven-year-old girl has shot dead her friend, aged six, with her
grandfather’s revolver while playing at a farm in South Africa, police said
Monday.
“They were playing together and in the process she got hold of
the revolver, which hit the deceased in the face,” said police spokeswoman
Ronel Otto.
The girl died on the scene, police said.
The slain girl was the daughter of a farm worker and had been
friends with the farmer’s granddaughter for some time.
“The seven-year-old was visiting her grandparents on a farm
outside Bela-Bela when she allegedly shot her friend with a 0.38 revolver,”
Otto told AFP.
The incident occurred on Saturday and the surviving girl is now
back with her parents in Johannesburg.
Police have opened a murder case but are waiting for a cue from
the national prosecution authority on how to proceed with the case, given it
involves a minor.
The 60-year-old grandfather is due to appear in court on Monday
on charges of negligent handling of a firearm.
South Africa has tough gun ownership legislation but many
citizens own firearms.
A lobby group Gun Free South Africa estimated that in 2011 there
were 2.9 million registered guns in a country with a population of nearly 52
million.
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