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Photo: Friso Gentsch/ dpa
In Lörrach, a nine-year-old boy was apparently injured by a shot from an airgun.
The police said that two children who were not yet criminally responsible were under suspicion.
The officers secured the gun and, according to their own statements, are still investigating how the children got hold of the gun.
Because of the protection of privacy, the police left the age and gender of the children open.
No vital vessels injured
The boy was playing behind an apartment building in the Baden-Württemberg city on Wednesday when he was hit.
A police spokesman could not answer whether the shots were aimed at him.
According to the investigators, a so-called diabolo bullet was stuck in the boy's neck, which had to be removed by an operation in the hospital.
No vital vessels were injured.
The nine-year-old is now back home.
Because the children are under criminal responsibility, the prosecutor's investigators are not filing a criminal complaint, but submitting a report, the spokesman said.
In addition, the youth welfare office is routinely informed.
It is still unclear whether the parents have to reckon with the consequences.
bbr/dpa