KEY POINTS:
A Napier man has been arrested after a 7-year-old girl was shot in the neck with an air rifle in the suburb of Maraenui last night.
The girl was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital and later moved to Auckland's Starship Hospital in a critical condition.
Police said the
30-year-old man had been charged with careless use of an airgun causing bodily injury and would appear in Napier District Court on Monday.
Karalyn Van Deursen, spokesperson for Hawke's Bay hospital, said the family wanted to make it clear the shooting was an accident.
Van Deursen said the girl lived in Maraenui and was rushed first to City Medical Doctors in Napier, where an ambulance was called to take her to the hospital in Hastings.
A spokesperson for Napier police said they were called at 6.15pm.
"Investigations are continuing, is all we can say."
Stephen Smith, watch manager for Hawke's Bay ambulance service, confirmed they took the girl "in a serious condition" to hospital just after 6pm.
"There's not much we can say at the moment because it's a police issue," he said.
A spokesperson from City Medical Doctors confirmed the girl was taken there but refused to comment any further.
The shooting is the sixth air rifle incident in the past six months - the guns, often mistaken for toys, account for more than 80 per cent of child injuries through firearms.
Experts are calling for air rifle laws to be tightened - at the moment, the guns can be bought by anyone over the age of 18, and no licence is necessary.
On New Year's Eve 2006, 13 year-old Ben Sciascia was shot through his eye socket and needed emergency surgery.
Zach Smith, 9, accidentally shot himself in January - the pellet missed organs and arteries as it hurtled from his navel to his chest.
Michael Palmer, 16, still has an air rifle pellet lodged in his back after being shot by a friend in Northland, in February.
Six-year-old Tayla Scott is recovering after her 9-year-old brother accidentally shot her at their Northland home - the pellet grazed her heart but she is expected to fully recover.
Another Northland youth, aged 14, was allegedly shot in the head in April by his 18 year-old cousin.