news, local-news,

A 12-year-old boy has been accidentally shot in the face while playing with a rifle on a rural property in south-west NSW. The boy was with a group of people on the property at Thuddungra, north-west of Young, when the .22 rifle was fired at about 7pm on Wednesday. "Police have been told the boy and a friend were in possession of a .22 rifle which discharged and a round ricocheted into the face of the boy," a NSW Police statement said. He was immediately driven from the property before being met by an ambulance and taken to Young Hospital. He was in a stable condition with non-life threatening injuries, police said. He has since been airlifted to the Children's Hospital at Westmead for specialist care. Officers from Cootamundra Local Area Command have established a crime scene at the property however police said they "do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances involved". In NSW, .22s shotguns and air rifles are Category A firearms, the least restrictive category for licensing.

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