Boy, 8, dies after suffering shot to head at Warcop farm

An eight-year-old boy has died after being shot in the head and face at a farm.

A man in his 60s who was being held on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter has been released on bail.

Cumbria Police said they were called to reports of the boy being injured by a firearm in Warcop on Saturday at about 14:50 BST.

The child was taken to hospital by air ambulance but he died overnight.

A Cumbria police spokesman said the firearm “was secured at the scene”.

Officers are continuing to investigate the circumstances and have encouraged anyone who may have witnessed the incident or the moments leading up to it to come forward.

A resident of the nearby village of Brough told the PA news agency he was driving by the scene, near the A66 dual carriageway, during Saturday afternoon when he saw medics, police vans and a helicopter.

Frank Chalmers said: “I passed the farm at around about 3pm. I saw the helicopter with its rotors stopped, and medics marching up the hill, a lot of police, maybe five police vans. One car was parked in the middle of an empty field.

“It all looked very serious. They don’t usually turn out in that kind of force.”

The 73-year-old retiree said the area where the incident happened in the Eden Valley is “very, very rural”.

David Wood, who lives in the Brookside area of Warcop, said it was “so sad and shocking” and “a real tragedy”.

He said: “I feel shocked, but its difficult to describe. A life taken far too early.

“We don’t know the family but an awareness that the life of a little boy has gone is bound to affect people.”

An elderly woman told the BBC it was “an absolutely dreadful thing to have happened”.

A man who lives nearby added: “As a grandfather you think the world of your grandkids don’t you, and you cannot replace them. So it is just awful for the family.

“I don’t know who it is but their whole family will be devastated.”