KEY POINTS:
A six-year-old girl accidentally shot in the chest by her brother is continuing to improve and has been moved to a general hospital ward.
Tayla Scott had emergency surgery in Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital after an air rifle pellet hit her in the chest and scraped her heart on Friday.
She was rushed by rescue helicopter to hospital in Whangarei and transferred to Auckland.
Police believe Tayla was accidentally shot when the pellet ricocheted off a rock after her 10-year-old brother fired an air rifle.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said today Tayla was stable and her condition was improving.
Tayla was conscious but it was not know when she would be discharged, she said.
Tayla was found on the kitchen floor by her mother who called an ambulance only to find the vehicle could not reach her rural home near Kawakawa north of Whangarei by road because of damage caused by floodwaters on Thursday.
When air ambulance officers arrived her condition was critical and she was taken to hospital in Whangarei where doctors worked on her to stabilise her before she was transferred to Auckland.
Tayla's mother, Maree, said her son, Sean, had been firing the air rifle at trees about 11am when one of the pellets ricocheted off a rock and hit Tayla in the chest.
Police were investigating how the children got access to the air rifle.
- NZPA
