Boy of 10 'shot dead with father's airgun' while he plays cowboys and Indians

Published on Monday 28 September 2009 22:45

A TEN-YEAR-OLD boy has died after being shot with an airgun.

The schoolboy, named as Rhys Johnson, from Swansea, South Wales, was taken to the city's Morriston Hospital on Sunday night but later died from his injuries.

Police described the boy's injury as having been inflicted by "an air weapon".

Earlier yesterday, it was claimed that the airgun involved was owned by the boy's father, and he was injured as he played a game of cowboys and Indians.

Parents Wendy and David Johnson, who are in their forties, were said to be "inconsolable".

One neighbour said Rhys was believed to have been playing with a friend when the accident happened.

South Wales police said that a 12-year-old boy was assisting them with their investigation into what they were treating as a non-suspicious incident.

Officers were called at 6:15pm on Sunday after receiving reports that a boy had been injured. Shocked neighbour Sonia Hixson, 76, told how she witnessed paramedics battling to save Rhys.

She also described how the boy's young friend was inconsolable and screaming hysterically at the scene.

"I could see they were trying to revive him and massaging his chest and someone said he had been shot," said Mrs Hixson.

"They also had a drip connected to him. The other boy was in the ambulance screaming and he was obviously in shock.

"I thought he had been shot as well because he was screaming so much. They were just trying to calm him down."

She added that, earlier in the day, a neighbour's child had come to her home asking for ice lollies from her freezer for herself, Rhys and another friend.

As she handed them over, Mrs Hixson asked what they were doing in the back lane and was told: "They have got a gun."

"I thought that they were playing cowboys and Indians like they do. I did not know that it was a real gun," she said.

She added that Mr Johnson, who works locally for Kwik Fit, had a garage at the end of his garden in which he repaired cars. Mrs Hixson said it was believed locally that the gun used in the tragedy belonged to Mr Johnson and had been stored in the shed.

Darren Casker, the headteacher at Rhys's school, Talycopa Primary, said: "Everyone at the school is extremely shocked and saddened by this terrible news.

"Rhys was a quiet but popular and likeable young man who will be sadly missed by all his friends and the staff at the school.

"All our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time."

Peter O'Grady, 54, a family friend who lives locally, said: "Everybody knows everybody around here, it is a very close-knit community.

"My heart goes out to Wendy and David. I've known David since he was a baby. Rhys and his sister were always playing along here together, you rarely saw them apart."

Assistant Chief Constable Colette Paul, of South Wales Police, said last night: "Our sympathies go out to the family of Rhys, who have lost their lovely boy.

"It is a very difficult time for both families and I ask that their privacy is respected."