School reopens after playground shooting

A school in the North where a five-year-old boy was shot and injured in the playground was reopened today.

Darragh Summers remains critically ill in hospital after being hit in the back of the head by a .22 bullet on Friday.

The Western Education Board sent a team of experts to St Patrick’s Primary School outside Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, yesterday to help teachers prepare for the resumption of classes.

A trauma expert who helped survivors of the Omagh bombing in 1998 also offered parents advice on what to tell their children before they returned.

Prayers for Darragh’s recovery were said last night at a special mass close to the school at Mullinaskea.

The little boy’s aunt, Carol Houston, told the congregation the family could not put into words how much people’s support had meant to them.

Darragh was among 180 children in the playground when he fell to the ground after being struck by the bullet.

Police believe it was a stray bullet from someone out shooting for vermin on nearby land.

Officers have seized at least ten .22 rifles in an attempt to identify the owner of the weapon responsible and are also studying a list of registered firearm holders.

As St Patrick’s classrooms opened, headmaster Brendan O’Connor said the teachers were ready to do their best to comfort returning pupils.

“There have been a lot of tears and sadness. Nobody could ever imagine something like this could ever happen at a school playground.”

Darragh is being treated at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, where his parents are maintaining a vigil at his bedside.