A 15-YEAR-OLD boy narrowly escaped serious injury when a friend shot him with an airgun.

Ryan Fowler was rushed to hospital with a pellet embedded in his right leg after the accident.

Doctors told Ryan, who clinched third spot in the recent Cycling Pursuit Championships in Brighton, that he could easily have been left disabled.

An X-ray showed the pellet narrowly missed a tendon.

Ryan's mum Jean, 45, of Maple Close, Woodingdean, Brighton, said: "Ryan is a very lucky boy. He is very good at his sports. He could easily have been crippled by this."

Ryan was playing with a friend on a farm in Ovingdean when the accident happened.

He was watching his friends shoot at targets when he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He collapsed before being taken by ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

The pellet was removed and Ryan, a pupil at Longhill School, was released from hospital.

Jean today warned other families about the dangers of airguns.

She said: "I believe this was an accident and not a malicious act but it could have been so much more serious.

"I want to warn parents not to buy their children airguns as presents. They are not toys. They are very dangerous."

Apolice firearms officer concluded the shooting was an accident but Insp Chris Milton, of Brighton police, said: "Airguns and air weapons have the potential to be lethal. They are not toys and should not be given to children as toys.

"They should always be used under proper supervision."

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