A 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg with an air rifle before a man allegedly took pictures of her injuries in a so-called "happy slap" attack.

Police said the victim was believed to have been shot with an air rifle in Wortley, Leeds, while she was chatting with friends. Two men approached her outside the Netto store on Oldfields Lane, Wortley, on May 25 and one of the men, who loaded an air rifle, shot her in the leg.

Kerry Deville, a student from Beeston, Leeds, told the Yorkshire Evening Post the second man then photographed her injuries using his mobile phone.

She said: "It was sick and I told him it was sick. I even said to him sarcastically, ‘do you want me to smile for a picture’. I couldn’t believe he did that."

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "If the complainant says this was photographed then she will have to let the police know and it will become a line of inquiry."

Police had received no reports that this attack on the teenager had been photographed, the spokeswoman said. "One of the men loaded up what is believed to be an air rifle," she said. "The girl asked the man not to discharge the weapon in her direction. The weapon was discharged and the girl received an injury to her leg, for which she received treatment.

"One of the men immediately ran from the scene in an unknown direction, whilst the other apologised to the girl and then left the scene."

Police and anti-bullying organisations have reported that the teenage fad of "happy slapping" involves people, mainly children, attacking passers-by while recording the incident on their mobile phones. The craze, which was first reported in south London around six months ago, has become a nationwide phenomenon.

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