Boy shoots girl dead at birthday party with gun he thought was a toy

-Mirror

A seven-year-old girl has been shot dead at a birthday party after a five-year-old boy mistook the weapon for a toy gun.

Juliet Lynch was struck in the chest after the boy pulled the trigger of a rifle he found in his mum's boyfriends' car - according to local police.

The bullet passed through the car and fragments hit Juliet in the chest, causing fatal injuries.

The boy had asked his mum if he could get a toy gun from the car parked outside the birthday party in Gaston, South Carolina, on Saturday night, when he picked up the real firearm.

Another boy, also aged five, suffered injuries to his arm after being hit by the shrapnel.

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Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said charges could be brought following the incident.

Speaking to local news network WLTX, Juliet's heartbroken mum Salley Lynch described the moment she realised her daughter had been shot.

She said, "All of a sudden, I heard a gunshot and her dad ran around the house and he said 'Juliet'"

"I just don't understand why someone would bring a gun to a kid's party? Why would you let a kid go to the trunk if you knew the gun was there, why?

"I cannot blame the child, but I do blame the adult that did have that gun."

Just last week, a two-year-old boy shot dead his 11-year-old sister while playing with a gun left inside their Philadelphia home.