Airgun snipers 'risk being shot'

Advertisement

Police fear young people are getting hold of airguns via websites

Police have warned that people misusing airguns risk being shot following two separate attacks on women in Devon.

Lyn Burgoyne was driving in Main Road, Pinhoe, with her four-year-old daughter when they were fired at last month.

In September Tracy Brock suffered extreme pain when she was shot by an airgun as she cycled in Exeter.

Acting Insp Simon Pawsey said airgun weapons were often replicas of powerful firearms and anyone misusing an airgun risked being shot by firearms officers.

He said: "If you are faced with someone carrying any sort of firearm, and imitations are now extremely realistic, to make that decision under pressure in what might be poor light and from a distance is a very very close call."

'Yelled out'

A dent in Ms Burgoyne's Ford Ka shows where the airgun pellet hit on 21 October.

The former police officer said if the shot had been a second later it could have hit her and she could have swerved.

She told BBC News: "One second later and little bit higher and the shot would have taken out my driver's window and possibly me and my daughter.

"I could have swerved off the road and we could have been hurt or killed."

Ms Brock, who was cycling in the city when she was hit, said: "I could not understand what could caused so much pain.

"I yelled out in when it happened."

Devon and Cornwall Police are not linking the two attacks.