Gunfight crossfire schoolboy shot in face

An eight-year-old boy was shot in the face and a lollipop lady was wounded when they were caught in gunfight crossfire.

Children were arriving for class and some were larking in the playground when dozens of shots rang out at about 8.30am, officers in Philadelphia said.

Youngsters ran screaming towards the building as teachers and parents frantically tried to pull them inside to safety.

Schoolboy Faheem Thomas-Childs needed brain surgery and was reported to be in extremely critical condition.

Crossing patrolwoman Debra Smith, 56, was being treated for a wound to her right foot.

Police said the shooting was between two men in a car and three others on the pavement near Peirce Elementary School in North Philadelphia, a district where drugs and crime are common.

“We have innocent children just on their way to school getting shot in the head,” a shaken Police Commissioner Sylvester M Johnson said outside the hospital.

“We want to get these people off the street.”

“It makes me angry, sad, upset,” said parent Mildred Smith as she arrived to pick up her child. “This is a terrible tragedy.”