Third-Grader Struck by Mystery Arrow While on a Field Trip to UC Berkeley

Police are still unsure who shot the arrow that struck the leg of an 8-year-old girl while she was playing near the entrance to UC Berkeley's public public science center Tuesday morning.

Nadine Hairston was sliding down a whale sculpture near the Lawrence Hall of Science when she suddenly felt a sting. She looked down at her left leg to find a two-foot crossbow arrow sticking out of her flesh.


"A kid ran up to me and said Nadine was shot with an arrow, which, you know, I thought couldn't possibly be true," said Michael Whiteley, one of the adults chaperoning Nadine's elementary school class on their field trip to the science center.

Teachers immediately rushed Nadine to a nearby hospital, where it was happily determined that the arrow caused no serious damage to her leg.

"I was scared when I got the call but when I got [to the hospital] I saw she was OK," said Nadine's mom Alicia, who added that the little girl was in "super spirits."

Though she was kept in the hospital overnight for observation, Nadine is already back on her feet (so to speak), and was expected to return to class today.

"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."

Meanwhile, police are still searching for the source of the arrow.

The leading assertion at the moment is that it likely came from one of the hills in the area after being released by a small-game hunter or a reckless hobbyist.

[screengrabs via ABC7, video via NBC Bay Area]