A man has been arrested after shooting a boy with a shotgun during a hunting trip outside a Sussex village.
The 11-year-old boy suffered potentially life-changing injuries during a shoot in Sussex.
He was shot in a hip when a shotgun was fired in woodland between the village of Catsfield and Ninfield, East Sussex, on Thursday at 11am.
Sussex Police confirmed the boy was with a party of adults who were rough shooting in woodland.
Rough shooting hunters use trained dogs to flush out rabbits, grouse and other game from the trees and hedgerows.
A local mother told the Standard she had driven past the scene swarming with police and an air ambulance.
She said: “The incident happened within a field potentially further into the woods! we see the services at the gate and parked within the field.”
“It’s rural Sussex, people shoot for fun, usually at organised shoots either clay, duck or pheasant but the season for those hasn’t quite started yet.
“Some people shoot rabbits in private land if it’s a pest problem in the area.”
The boy suffered a serious, potentially life-changing wound to his hip in the shooting and was airlifted to hospital in London.
A 54-year-old man from Nottinghamshire was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
