A YOUNG girl was left “distraught” after she was shot as she walked through a meadow with her friends at the weekend.

Lucy Nicholls, 12, who lives in Burton, was rushed to hospital after suffering three wounds to her leg in the frightening attack.

She had been in Purewell Meadows with twin sister Kayleigh and two friends when she noticed a teenage boy shooting a BB-style gun at a tree at around 4pm on Sunday.

The boy told the group he had been given the gun by his dad’s friend before turning the weapon on Lucy and shooting her leg.

Police have carried out a search of the area with the help of sniffer dogs but the boy has not yet been arrested.

Lucy’s mum, Sarah Kopczeweski, 33, said: “I am still in shock.

“I cannot believe it.

“She told the police that it was a big BB gun, attached via a wire to a backpack that the boy was wearing.

“One of Lucy’s friends had said to the boy: ‘I don’t think you should be doing that’ and he replied with something like: ‘I don’t think that I should be either.’

“He shot Lucy from around one-and-a-half to two metres away and then ran off.

“At first Lucy thought that she had been shot once, but when she lifted up her trouser leg there were three holes in her skin.”

Sarah took Lucy to Royal Bournemouth Hospital to be checked over.

Doctors discovered that there were no pieces of the pellets left in her skin and bandaged up her leg.

Lucy was able to return to the Grange School yesterday morning.

Sarah said: “I didn’t realise that it was going to be as bad as it was.

“The police found some of the little pellets on the floor.

“They were made of a hard, white plastic.

“It must have been quite powerful to pierce through her skin.”

Lucy described the boy with the gun as being around 15 years old and with blond curly hair.

He was wearing tracksuit bottoms and pink football boots.

The youngster said: “I only felt one shot, and I only heard one, but I’ve got three marks on my leg.

“It was really painful.”

Sarah said: “Lucy was in a lot of pain.

“She was completely distraught and in shock too.”

Sarah took one of the plastic pellets to A&E to show doctors.

“We called an ambulance, but they were very busy and it was quicker for me to take her myself,” she said.

“The doctors were worried that there could still be something in her leg, and they talked about giving her an X-ray, but the pellets were solid and they were able to bandage her up and send her home.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said that they were called just after 4.35pm with a report of a female being shot with three pellets from an air weapon.

They confirmed that a search of the area was carried out but no arrests have been made.

Officers yesterday visited Sarah’s home to interview Lucy and her friends.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the force by visiting dorset.police.uk or by calling 101.