A YOUNG footballer is recovering after being shot in the head with an air gun pellet as he was standing on the touchline of a game.

Connor Minto, 11, was injured at an under-12s game on Saturday morning (November 15) in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

The pellet lodged in his forehead close to his left eye and he had the wound stitched at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.

But the sports-mad boy, from Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, is unable to play football or do boxing, his other passion, while it heals.

Police have arrested three local 14-year-old boys and bailed them pending further enquiries.

They are urging witnesses to come forward and have warned of the dangers of firing air guns.

Connor was a substitute for Chester-le-Street, who were playing Coxhoe at the Hermitage Academy, Waldridge Lane, Chester-le-Street, and was watching a nearby rugby game when at about noon he felt what he thought was a stone being thrown at him but it was in fact a .22 pellet that lodged in his forehead.

His mother Kerry Wilson: “Physically he is fine now but obviously it has affected him mentally.

“He is saying he doesn’t want to go back playing football and doesn’t want to go to that school again.

“His friend told him he had been shot and he thought he was going to die. It was very traumatic for him.

“He has been very lucky where he was hit. A little bit lower and it would have been his eye.”

Detective Constable Andy Froggatt, who is investigating the incident, said: “Connor was standing next to the nets with some other boys watching a nearby rugby game when he felt what he thought was a stone hit his head.

“He ran to his dad because he could feel blood and his dad could see that a .22 pellet was lodged in Connor’s forehead just above his left eye.

“This was a very serious incident. The photos clearly show how nasty the injury was, but it could have been much worse if the pellet had hit Connor’s eye.”

Witnesses are asked to call Det Con Froggatt on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.