Children at a primary school in Bristol were fired at with air-powered BB guns as they played in the playground.
The police were called after two groups of youths were said to have shot in the children's direction at Shirehampton Primary School.
The 'frightened' children were ushered back into the school building on Wednesday lunchtime after the alleged incident.
A spokeswoman for the city council told reporters that two pupils had been struck by metal pellets, yet no witnesses reported actually seeing a weapon when they were interviewed by the police.
The story came to light after a concerned parent contacted the Bristol Post and claimed her little boy was left 'shaken' by the shooting and did not want to return to school.
She said that she and other parents drove their cars around the area during yesterday's lunch break to offer some reassurance to the children.
The worried mum said her son had told her that two groups of hoodie-wearing youths had approached the playground from different sides before opening fire.
"My son was in hysterics and felt too scared to go to school on Thursday," she said. "He said he saw a couple of children getting hit. They were scared and there was a lot of crying."
School staff sent a round-robin text message to mums and dads informing them there had been an incident at the school.
A spokeswoman from the local council said that parents had been told what had happened, and had 'responded well'.
"Everyone was back in school yesterday and everyone seems OK. Some are shocked that something like that had happened," said Angie Burton. "It's a matter for the police – they are looking into the incident. The two children who were hit are absolutely fine and didn't go to hospital."
Sergeant Shaun Finn of Avon & Somerset police confirmed that they had received a report that a child had been injured and said that investigations were on-going to establish what happened.