POLICE chiefs have issued an unreserved apology for not responding after two girls were shot at with an air weapon.

In an open letter which is being published in the Daily Echo today, assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting says: “There are no excuses – we simply did not respond as urgently as we needed to.

“For that reason, I offer an unreserved apology to the young girl, her family and the school.”

Head teacher Alistair Brien of Bournemouth School for Girls said he accepts the apology and hopes lessons have been learned.

He was moved to reassure parents by writing to them after the gunman struck at 5.10pm on Tuesday.

The two 12-year-olds had been waiting for their parents to collect them by the tennis courts near East Way. Despite being asked twice to attend, Dorset Police took statements later.

One of the girls was slightly hurt after being struck in the leg by a pellet.

She was taken to hospital by her mother and released that evening.

Assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting said officers had retrieved an air gun, but do not think it was used in this incident.

Explaining what went wrong, he said: “Computerised command and control systems are still subject to our staff independently assessing the availability of officers to attend emergency calls.

“In this incident, it is very clear that we should have diverted officers from other calls in order to attend.

“Notwithstanding that the actual shooting may have taken place several minutes previously to the force receiving a call, we have a clear responsibility to protect the public and although a suspect may have left the scene, it was necessary for us to attend to make sure that people were in no further danger.”

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Mr Whiting said action is being taken to ensure that future responses are appropriate.

Headteacher Alistair Brien said: “It is good to hear of Dorset Police’s apology for their handling of this incident.

“We have also had a visit from a senior officer to apologise. He is also, I understand, due to visit the two girls and their families as well.

“My main concern now is the police are able to bring their investigation to a successful conclusion and lessons are learnt from this for the future.”

Dorset Police are still asking witnesses or anyone with information to contact Sergeant Keith Clothier at Winton police station on 01202 222222 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.