S.African 7-year-old girl kills playmate with grandfather’s gun

A seven-year-old girl
has shot dead her friend, aged six, with her
grandfather’s revolver while playing at a
farm in South Africa, police said Monday.
“They were playing together and in the
process she got hold of the revolver, which
hit the deceased in the face,” said police
spokeswoman Ronel Otto.
The girl died on the scene, police said.
The slain girl was the daughter of a farm
worker and had been friends with the
farmer’s granddaughter for some time.
“The seven-year-old was visiting her
grandparents on a farm outside Bela-Bela
when she allegedly shot her friend with a
0.38 revolver,” Otto told AFP.
The incident occurred on Saturday and the
surviving girl is now back with her parents
in Johannesburg.
Police have opened a murder case but are
waiting for a cue from the national
prosecution authority on how to proceed
with the case, given it involves a minor.
The 60-year-old grandfather is due to
appear in court on Monday on charges of
negligent handling of a firearm.
South Africa has tough gun ownership
legislation but many citizens own firearms.
A lobby group Gun Free South Africa
estimated that in 2011 there were 2.9
million registered guns in a country with a
population of nearly 52 million.