BB gun reportedly fired at children using play park in 'horrific' attack at Carvers Recreation Ground in Ringwood

A BB gun was reportedly fired at children as they played on a New Forest recreation ground.

The youngsters were using the play area of Carvers Recreation Ground, off Southampton Road in Ringwood, around 8.20pm last Friday when pellets were said to have been shot in their direction. No one was reported to have been hurt.

Police responding to the incident searched the surrounding area, but they were unable to find anyone matching the suspect’s description.

But they later spoke to a resident at a nearby property in Southampton Road, although no arrests were made.

The Hampshire force defended its response to the incident amid criticism from members of the public on social media, particularly following the recent mass fatal shooting in Plymouth.

“We treat incidents of this nature very seriously and seek to deploy officers to the scene as quickly as reasonably possible, based on a robust threat-level assessment,” a spokesperson said.

“Officers arrived on-scene within six minutes of the call being received by our police control room and sought to understand the circumstances and began an investigation into the incident immediately.”

A local police Facebook post on Tuesday about extra patrols being carried out around the play park received comments from a Facebook user saying her friend’s children were among those targeted by a female shooter.

“My friend’s kids were totally traumatised by the lady firing in,” she wrote. “Absolutely horrific.”