An eight-year-old boy was seriously ill in hospital today after being shot in the arm and stomach by a shotgun, police in Britain said.
Surgeons operated last night to remove pellets following the incident at a travellers site in Tyne and Wear yesterday.
A 10-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of wounding the eight-year-old has now been bailed pending further enquiries.
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: "The eight-year-old boy last night underwent surgery after receiving a serious gunshot wound to the right arm and abdomen and remains in South Tyneside General Hospital.
"His condition is this morning described as stable.
"His injury is believed to have been caused by shotgun pellets."
The incident happened at the West Pastures travellers' site in Follingsby Lane, Boldon, Tyne and Wear.
Officers from Northumbria Police's Major Investigation Team, led by Detective Chief Inspector Paul Young are working to establish a sequence of events.
Superintendent Jim Napier, of South Tyneside Area Command, said: "I'd like to reiterate that we believe the answers to this incident lie within the travellers site at West Pastures. We haven't had any particular policing issues with the site prior to this incident taking place.
"Shootings in South Tyneside and across the force are unusual and something of this particular nature is extremely rare.
"The community can rest assured that we're carrying out a thorough and professional investigation into this incident in a bid to establish the full facts, which includes working with the hospital, the boy's family and residents at the site.
"Anyone who was in or around the site between 12 and 1pm on Friday and may have heard or seen anything is asked to get in touch as they may have information which is vital to the inquiry."
He added that it was too early to speculate whether the eight-year-old and the 10-year-old who was arrested were related.
Nobody else was injured during the incident.
West Pastures is a small permanent travellers' site to the south of Gateshead.
PA