A YOUNG girl has become the latest victim in a bizarre spate of gangster-style drive-by shootings - with a paintball gun.

The ten-year-old was left shaken and covered in luminous paint after she was shot from a moving car in Stanley, County Durham.

It is the fourth such paintball attack in the area within a week, prompting police to warn that the pranksters could cause serious injury.

Acting Detective Inspector Vic Deanes, of Derwentside CID, said: "Shooting someone with a paintball gun may seem like a harmless prank, but it is dangerous.

"This weapon may look innocuous, but firing it in this manner could lead to someone suffering a serious injury."

The guns fire plastic pellets that burst, showering the target with paint. They can cause bruising if fired from close range, and police fear a head shot could seriously injure a child.

The girl was hit as she walked down Good Street, Stanley, last Thursday.

The paintball gang first struck the previous Thursday when a dark coloured car was seen to drive slowly past Joe's Fish Shop in nearby Greencroft. A paintball gun was aimed out of the car and the shop's window was splattered with paint.

Later that day, two 15-year-old boys in Tanfield Lea were targeted. The shots missed by inches.

The hooligans have also shot a car parked outside Dipton Community Centre.

Anyone with information should call police on (01207) 232144 or make a confidential call to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.