Girl Hit by Arrow During Field Trip: Accident or Crime? Cops Don't Know

An 8-year-old California girl was shot in the leg with an arrow Tuesday while on a school field trip at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.

Nadine Hairston, a third grader at Mary E. Silveira Elementary School, was playing on a life-size sculpture of a whale outside of the museum when a 28-inch arrow flew out of nowhere and hit her in the leg.

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"First I felt shock and looked down," Hairston told ABC News. "I was sliding down… but had an arrow in my leg."

Hairston was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where doctors surgically removed the arrow. It missed major arteries, instead hitting a fleshy part of her left thigh. She returned to school Thursday.

"It's like a dream and weird at the same time," she told ABC News. "Because you think you're dreaming when you see an arrow and it's also weird because it usually never happens. I don't know if they were aiming for me or just the whale. I have no idea."

The shooter has not been found, but police speculate that it may have been an accident on the part of a game-hunter.

"It’s certainly possible that it just might be an accident. A careless accident at the very least, but it could also be considered a violent felony," Berkeley Police Sgt. Andrew Tucker told ABC News.

Last year, a 7-year-old girl was hit in the back by an errant arrow in Wisconsin as she pushed a doll stroller down the street. She suffered lung and spleen injuries.

The 16-year-old who allegedly shot the arrow claims he was aiming for a squirrel and was too afraid to come forward after hearing the girl's screams.

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