US teen shot, wounded while playing hide-and-seek

A 14-year-old girl was shot and wounded over the weekend while playing hide-and-seek in Louisiana, police said—the latest in a tragic series of similar US shootings.

The incident occurred on Sunday in the town of Starks, near the southern US state's border with Texas, the local sheriff's office said in a statement.

Officers called to the scene found a teenage girl "suffering from a gunshot wound to the back of her head," though she was transported to the hospital with "non-life threatening injuries." 

After investigating, police learned that several young people were "playing hide and seek in the area and were hiding on the neighbor's property."

When detectives spoke with the owner of the property, 58-year-old David Doyle, he said he "observed shadows outside his home, at which time he went inside and retrieved his firearm."

"He went back outside and observed people running away from his property, at which time he began shooting at them and unknowingly hit the girl," the police said in a statement.

Doyle was taken into custody and charged with several counts, including aggravated assault with a weapon. 

The shooting follows a recent spate of tragic everyday interactions across the United States—where there are more firearms than inhabitants—that have degenerated into bloodshed. 

In April, a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed in New York state after she accidentally drove into the wrong driveway.

The same month, in Texas, a man opened fire on cheerleaders after one of them tried to open the door of his car, which she had mistaken for her own vehicle.

And a Black 16-year-old was shot and seriously injured after he mistakenly rang the doorbell of the wrong house in Missouri while picking up his younger siblings. (AFP)