A little girl was lucky not to have been blinded after being shot in the face with a BB gun, says her mum.
Joanne Davies said daughter Lillie-Mai, seven, has been left scared to leave the house and suffering night traumas following the incident at Accrington Market, in Lancashire, last Saturday.
While coming back from the toilets, some youths standing on a nearby balcony allegedly fired a small metal pellet from an air gun, which struck the child.
Joanne said Lillie-Mai's cheek was left red and inflamed, just an inch below her eye, reports Lancs Live.
They were on a day out with the girl's godmother and her daughter to take part in craft sessions - due to it being the first Saturday market of the month - when the incident occurred.
The group went for lunch at a cafe just outside the markets and Lillie-Mai was on the way back from the toilets with her godmother when she was shot.
Joanne, from Whitworth, said: "Next thing I heard was a lot of shouting and I recognised the voice of my friend.
"Next minute my daughter appears at the table, holding her face, crying, sobbing her heart out and she's going, 'mummy I've been shot in the face, I've been shot in the face'.
"You can imagine what I thought."
Her godmother said they'd seen a group of youths hanging around and at least one was holding a BB gun.
Joanne said: "What weighs' on my mind heavily, and I've to got to be thankful it wasn't, but an inch higher, she'd have lost her eye - it was a metal ball bearing."
That night Lillie-Mai woke up an hour after going to bed and was "screaming, she was shaking, she started vomiting", her mum said.
The next day she "point-blank refused" to leave the house and Joanne said she had a battle to get her to go to school on Monday.
"It has significantly affected her," she added.
Joanne rang police over the incident and officers are now investigating.
The mum has issued a warning to the parents of the youths, saying she wants the culprits to know of the "great trauma" they've inflicted on her little girl.
Hyndburn Police has also issued a warning to parents over the dangers of the weapons and said "this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated".
A spokesperson said officers were called to the market hall on Saturday, February 5, at around 3pm to reports of youths with BB guns "running around".
Officers have since seized the gun and pellets they believe are linked to the incident with Lillie-Mai.
