A YOUNG woman was shot dead after jumping out of a closet where she was hiding to surprise a friend.

Premila Lal, 18, was killed when the startled friend, Nerrek Daniel Galley, 21, reportedly shot her in a Longmont, Colorado home.

After the prank went awry, Galley and two of Lal's male relatives, one of them believed to be her 15-year-old brother, carried the victim to a car and took her to hospital, a neighbour told the Longmont Times-Call.

But she died shortly afterwards.

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The neighbour, who was not identified by the paper, said that prior to that her husband "heard yelling and screaming" coming from the property.

Galley, who has been co-operating with police, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse and reckless endangerment, according to an arrest report released to the media.

The paper said Galley was also suspected of permitting a juvenile to have a firearm. The charge stems from Galley allegedly allowing Lal's 15-year-old brother to have a handgun in his possession without the permission of the boy's parents, a felony under Colorado law.

According to CBS Denver, Lal was a high school track star. Her heartbroken father Praveen Lal said he felt no anger towards Galley.

“We lost a daughter, so we don’t want anybody else to lose their son, you know, especially when it was accident,” Mr Lal told CBS Denver.