A 17 year- old East Clare girl was lucky not to lose her eye after being shot with a pellet gun by another teen in Tulla on Friday.
The incident occurred on the village’s Main Street at approximately 3.30pm, when the secondary school student was shot by a male of a similar age while she was standing outside a local shop.
Gardai say that the shot was fired from a car and that the plastic bearing struck the girl in the face.
A senior garda in Killaloe said the girl “was very lucky not to lose an eye”. She was treated by a doctor but did not require hospitalisation.
It is understood that gardai spoke with the male teenager and the pellet gun has been seized by gardai and will not be retured.
Gardai have advised that although these pellet guns are legal they are “dangerous when fired indiscriminately in the direction of a person”.
Carol Byrne
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.