A 12-year-old boy is due to appear in court charged with manslaughter following the death of a youngster who was shot with an air rifle.
The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear before a youth court in Newcastle-under-Lyme accused of killing Mitchel Picken.
Mitchel, also 12, died last month, two days after he was shot through his right eye at an address in Stockton Brook, north Staffordshire.
Mitchel, who went to Holden Lane High School in Sneyd Green, had been admitted to hospital after an incident at a house in Greenway Hall Road.
Speaking after his death, his parents Andrew and Joanne Picken, from Baddeley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, said they could not describe their grief at losing their "beautiful and intelligent" son.
In a statement issued by Staffordshire Police, Mr Picken, 37, and his wife, 35, spoke of Mitchel's closeness to his seven-year-old brother, his love for sport and passion for local football club Port Vale.
A post-mortem examination conducted by a Home Office pathologist found that Mitchel died from a penetrating wound to the head.
