POLICE are hunting a gang of teeny thugs who shot at a 12-year-old boy with an air gun in a row over a soccer ball.

The youngster's ordeal began at about 3.30pm on Sunday, January 28, when he and three friends were confronted by another group of four boys as they made their way towards Market Place, Prescot.

The second group snatched the victim's football and kicked it over the nearby church graveyard. When the lad went to retrieve it, he was set upon by a boy aged between 12 and 15 years, armed with what looked like a black air gun.

After loading the gun with a pellet and holding it against the victim's head in a threatening fashion, he handed it to another member of his group who shot the owner in the left foot as he slowly approached the ball. Luckily, the boy was unhurt as the pellet failed to penetrate his shoe.

The second group, one of whom was carrying an eight-inch combat-style knife with a four-inch blade, then ran off, believing they had been spotted by an adult.

Detective Sergeant Paul Bailey of Huyton police station, said: "This is a very serious incident in which a 12-year-old boy could have been badly hurt. What would have happened had the gun gone off accidentally as it was held to the boy's head doesn't bear thinking about. Although the victim was with three friends, the other boys were too frightened to do anything to help him."

Police have issued descriptions of two of the four teeny terrors. The boy who first held the gun is described as between 12 and 15 years of age, 5ft 7in tall, with a medium build. He was wearing a black-and-blue Berghaus-type coat, a woolly Liverpool FC hat and black tracksuit bottoms.

The boy who fired the gun is described as "looking about 10-years-old", 4ft 6in tall, with proportionate build, fair hair and a one-and-a-half-inch red scar on his cheek.

One of the other two boys was called J or Jay.

ANYONE who can help police with their inquiries should contact DC Alan Yates at Huyton police station on 0151 777 6264.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.