A YOUNG boy who was shot in the head with an air rifle died in hospital yesterday.

Andrew Morton, 2, is believed to have been hit by a pellet aimed at firefighters who were called to a kitchen blaze in the Easterhouse area of Glasgow.

Strathclyde police have arrested a 27-year-old man in connection with the incident. A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal and the man is expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Monday.

The pellet was embedded in the boy’s head so deeply that doctors were unable to operate. He died with his parents, two brothers and two sisters at his bedside after hospital staff switched off his life-support machine.

Cheryl McMillan, 17, Andrew’s sister, paid tribute to her “brilliant” brother.

“Andrew was the life and soul of the full house. If anybody was upset he would cheer you up. He was just amazing. He was a pure brilliant wee boy,” she told Scottish Television.

Andrew was taken to the Southern General Hospital after he was injured on Wednesday evening. He had gone out with Brian, 13, his brother, to buy chips.

Strathclyde Fire Brigade said that attacks on its rescue crews were a growing problem in Glasgow. There have been more than 300 incidents in which crews have come under attack in the past five years. On the same night that Andrew was injured two fire engines were pelted with stones in another area of the city.

Joe Gallagher, a divisional officer with Strathclyde Fire Brigade, said: “The perpetrators are putting people’s lives at risk — not only members of the public but also the people in their own community. This should make us redouble our efforts to tackle violent crime.”

There have been calls for a ban on airguns, which were responsible for 415 firearms offences across Britain in 2003 — an increase of almost 100 on the previous year.

In January 2004 legislation came into force raising the minimum age for possessing an air rifle from 14 to 17 and making it an offence to possess an air rifle in a public place without good reason.

Cathy Jamieson, Scotland’s Justice Minister, said that the legislation could be looked at again in the light of Andrew’s death. She said: “I want to tell the people of Scotland that we will look very, very closely at this incident and if there are any lessons to be learned we will learn them.

• A civil engineer was jailed yesterday for two years and nine months for firing an air rifle at a couple. Graham Pickersgill, 35, of Adventurers’ Quay, Cardiff Bay, was hosting a party when he heard Helen Green and Andrew Sage arguing in the street. Both were hit with pellets.

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