Forensic experts have examined 45 rifles in an attempt to trace the gun used in the shooting of a boy in a Fermanagh school playground.
Most of them were handed over by farmers who own land close to where Darragh Somers, aged five, was hit in the back of the head by a .22 bullet. His parents believe the shooting was accidental but the PSNI is still urging the person who fired the shot to own up.
Chief Insp Nigel Kyle said yesterday: "They, like everyone else, want this confirmation that Darragh, or their family, were not deliberately targeted."
The little boy was shot in the playground at St Patrick's primary school outside Enniskillen last Friday at lunchtime. He remains critically ill on a life-support machine at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children where his parents are maintaining a bedside vigil.
Ballistic tests have been carried out on all the guns in an attempt to match them with a .22 bullet which was removed from Darragh's head. Police believe he was hit by someone shooting vermin in adjoining fields.
All the guns handed in are licensed and owned locally, but at least one belongs to a man who lives 15 miles away in Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone.
They are being examined at the police forensic science department at Seapark, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. It is not known if the gun which fired the shot is among them. Chief Insp Kyle said: "Over the next few days we hope to make further progress." Nobody has been arrested for the shooting, but the little boy's family has also urged them to own up.
Darragh's grandmother Maureen Hallett said: "I believe myself, whoever did this, it was a pure accident, but the longer they leave it to admit it, the harder it becomes."