A mix of alcohol, cannabis, young people and firearms led to a 13-year-old being shot in the head with an air rifle on Sunday afternoon.
A 17-year-old youth of Five Forks, North Otago, was arrested at 10.55pm on Sunday, after he allegedly shot the boy in the head with an air rifle earlier that day.
''He shot an associate in the head with [the air rifle], causing minor injuries, ... at his home address,'' Sergeant Blair Wilkinson, of Oamaru, said.
The slug was embedded in the boy's scalp.
He did not require medical treatment.
Police were made aware of the incident by a parent of one of the youth's associates.
The youth is charged with possession of an air gun without a licence, committing a dangerous act with intent to injure with a firearm, supplying alcohol to a minor and supplying cannabis to a minor.
He is due to appear in the Timaru District Court on July 30.
Sgt Wilkinson said the incident highlighted the dangers of mixing firearms and alcohol and drugs.
It was illegal to posses an air rifle without a firearms licence if under 18 and the same rules concerning alcohol and firearms applied to air weapons, Sgt Wilkinson said.
''The penalties for suppling minors with cannabis are greater than for supplying adults and there's obviously a heightened public interest in police prosecuting those cases.''
