HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) – Police say a Northern California family didn’t call 911 for more than five hours after a 10-year-old girl was shot because they thought she had started menstruating.

The girl was sleeping in her Hayward home early Thursday when a stray bullet from a nearby shooting wounded her in the buttocks.

Sgt. Mark Ormsby says when the girl woke up in pain, she thought she had started her period. Her parents found no indication she had been shot when they took her to the bathroom.

Ormsby said when she woke up for school and was still in pain, her parents inspected her bed and saw bullet holes.

The girl’s doctor told investigators the bullet’s entry wound was small and could have been easily overlooked if the family thought she was menstruating.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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