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An actual skunk (File photo) Danny Lawson/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Costumed girl shot by relative after she is mistaken for skunk

The nine-year-old girl was hit in the shoulder, arm, back and neck after a relative mistook her for a skunk at a Halloween party on Saturday.

POLICE SAY A costumed nine-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a western Pennsylvania home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk.

New Sewickley Township police say the girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel.

Chief Ronald Leindecker told the Beaver County Times that a male relative mistook her for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder, arm, back and neck on Saturday night.

Leindecker told the newspaper that the girl was alert and talking when she was flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, about 30 miles away. Her condition was unavailable.

Leindecker says the man hadn’t been drinking and he doesn’t know whether charges will be filed. New Sewickley police said Sunday that decision will be made in a few days.

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