Bullet lodged in girl's foot after shooting incident
An eight-year-old girl in Ekupheleni had a pistol bullet removed from her foot after weeks of medical attention failed to heal the injury.
An eight-year-old girl in Ekupheleni had a pistol bullet lodged in her foot for weeks before a hospital scan revealed the cause of her persistent pain. The child sustained the injury last month while playing with siblings outside a gogo centre, initially believing she had stepped on sharp wire.
Medical attention at the hospital involved cleaning the wound and administering antibiotics, but the injury worsened and began to swell, causing the girl difficulty walking. A scan this month identified the bullet, prompting the girl to recall hearing a gunshot and seeing a resident shooting at cats that day.
Police visited the resident, seized a pistol for ballistic testing, and the individual admitted to firing the weapon but denied shooting at the child. The circumstances of the injury remain under police investigation, pending the ballistic examination results.
Why it mattersAn eight-year-old girl in Eswatini suffered a gunshot wound to the foot that required surgical removal of a bullet.