By Laurie Watson and Stefan Morkis

POLICE IN Dundee are still trying to track down a gang of children responsible for shooting an 11- year-old girl in the face at point blank range in the middle of a busy fast-food restaurant.

Anna Lyall and her friends Bobby Hynd (11) and Joel Robertson, all from the west end of the city, had visited the McDonalds restaurant in Reform Street when they were targeted by a gang of children, some as young as eight years old.

One of the group began firing a pellet gun—currently classified as a toy—at the three friends, hitting Bobby twice on the back of his head and neck before shooting Anna on the side of her face, just inches from her right eye.

The terrifying incident occurred at 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon in the middle of the mobbed restaurant.

Bobby said the group had targeted him because of his long hair and trenchcoat-style jacket, teasing him by calling him names before firing a pellet into the back of his head.

A second shot soon followed before the group turned their attention to Anna, firing the pellet at her right cheek, which caused it to bruise and bleed.

Bobby said, “There was a group of them, they were between eight and 13 years old. They started calling me names, but I didn’t say anything.

“I saw him pull out the pellet gun and then I felt the pellet hit me in the back of the head, but I didn’t want to react to them.

“Then I realised they had shot a pellet at Anna and Joel told me Anna was upset and bleeding.”

Anna’s mother Katherine Cairnie-Lyall said she was shocked and disgusted when she received the call from her tearful, terrified daughter saying she had been shot in the middle of McDonalds.

She said she was even more horrified when police officers told her the pellet gun used was in fact classified as a toy and was available in high street stores throughout the country.

She said, “I’m absolutely disgusted to think this can happen in the middle of a busy restaurant in the city centre.

“The police have told me these guns are classed as toys and I think that’s an absolute disgrace, a couple of inches either way and Anna could have been blinded or suffered serious damage to her ear—that doesn’t sound like a toy to me.

“What is there to stop these people turning these guns on babies, adults or animals?”

Mrs Cairnie-Lyall said she questioned the availability of these weapons in light of the spate of shootings in London in the past two weeks that claimed the lives of three teenage boys.

She said, “If they think they can just walk up to someone and fire a gun in someone’s face, then what are they going to do next? You might not be able to change the attitudes of these people, but you can certainly stop them from having access to pellet guns.

“I couldn’t believe it when the kids and the police told me these guns are available in high street stores in Dundee, it just seems any child can just walk in off the street, buy one and start pointing it at people. This just isn’t right, something should be done—I just don’t understand how these guns can be sold at all.”

Anna and Bobby said it would make them think twice about going back into the city centre, particularly visiting the same McDonalds. Anna said she was extremely shocked at first, but she was even more scared when she discovered the pellet had left blood pouring down her face.

She said, “I went to the toilet to get cleaned up and my face wouldn’t stop bleeding. I was crying—it was a horrible experience. It has made me feel very nervous. I won’t be going back to that McDonalds again.”

Bobby added, “Why would I want to go back there? I know that those kind of people are hanging about there waiting to do something like that again.”

A police spokesman condemned the youths responsible. He said, “It is very fortunate that on this occasion the children only suffered minor injuries.

“This was an extremely reckless act that could easily have had much more tragic consequences. We ask parents to be aware if any of their youngsters have access to this type of gun.”

The spokesman said officers were continuing inquiries and would be pursuing the people responsible for Saturday’s incident. They visited Anna and Bobby to take photographs of their injuries.

Mrs Cairnie-Lyall said she would be giving her full backing to the campaign fronted by the family of a toddler who died after being shot by a man with an airgun as they bid to get the weapons off the streets.

Andrew Morton (2) died in March 2005 after being hit by an airgun fired in Glasgow’s Easterhouse area. His mother, father and older sister have campaigned ever since to have the weapons banned from general sale, and joined forces with a politician to call for more urgent action.

The family linked up with Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan, who has lodged a private member’s bill at the Scottish Parliament appealing for airguns to be banned from general sale. His bill proposes to ban airguns in Scotland except for specific and licensed use, such as gun clubs. The draft legislation is being consulted upon at parliament, a process that ends on March 22.

McDonalds in Reform Street was contacted and asked to comment on the shooting, but declined to do so last night.

Tay Bridges councillor Fraser Macpherson, whose ward includes Reform Street, said the incident was abhorrent. “I am very concerned to learn of this incident in the city centre and clearly this raises the issue of the availability of this sort of pellet guns,” he said.