Legally-held guns are being tested in a bid to find the person who shot a five-year-old boy in the head as he played in a school playground, it was revealed today.
Police have taken possession of at least ten .22 rifles owned by people living in the area of St Patrick's Primary School in Mullinaskea, near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
It is believed the boy may have been hit by someone out shooting animals on nearby land.
Darragh Summers remains critically ill at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children after being shot at lunchtime on Friday. There were about 180 children in the playground at the time.
His parents, who are keeping a bedside vigil, believe the shooting was accidental.
Police have appealed for the owners of two vehicles, one of them a people carrier, which were spotted near the school at the time, to come forward.
Police want to carry out ballistic tests on all .22 rifles in a bid to identify the weapon used. The area is popular for shooting, and there was one unconfirmed report today that there had been sheep-worrying on land not far from the school. The .22 bullet which hit Darragh has a range of up to 300 yards.
The family's priest, Father John Halton, said the boy's parents did not believe the shooting was deliberate. "They cannot imagine that anyone consciously shot the boy," he said. "They feel quite the opposite, that it was an accident of some kind."