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Randfontein police are investigating a case of attempted murder after an eight-year-old girl “accidentally” shot her grandfather in the head in the Helikon Park suburb‚ west of Johannesburg.
While exact details of how the shooting occurred are unclear‚ it is believed that the 46-year-old man was found by paramedics still in bed with a single gunshot wound to the head shortly after 7am on Tuesday.
He was airlifted to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto‚ according to ER24’s Russel Meiring.
The Randfontein Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday that the man was in a stable condition.
Randfontein SAPS station commander Brigadier Jacob Manamela said the man was allegedly sleeping with the firearm under his pillow before the incident.
He did not name the injured man.
A source close to the matter‚ who did not want to be named‚ said the firearm had fallen from the bed and that someone close to the family – understood to be the child – had mistaken it for a toy.
“A case of attempted murder has been opened for further investigation‚” Manamela said.
He pleaded with firearm owners to be responsible when handling their weapons indoors.
– TimesLIVE