Nine-year-old girl in Halloween costume shot after relative mistakes her for a skunk

A nine-year-old girl has been shot in the shoulder after a relative mistook her Halloween costume for skunk.

The child, who was wearing a black costume and a black hat with white tassels was apparently playing “over a hillside” during at Halloween party at a house in New Sewickley Township in western Pennsylvania, USA.

New Sewickley Police Chief Ronald Leindecker said that at around 8.30pm the girl’s male relative, who cannot be named and is said not have been drinking before the incident, mistook her for a skunk and shot her in the shoulder with a shotgun.

The girl was alert and talking when she was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, although a report on her current condition is not available.

Leindecker said he was not sure if charges will be filed against the man.