A costumed 9-year-old girl was accidentally shot outside a home during a Halloween party by a relative who thought she was a skunk, police said.

The girl was over a hillside and wearing a black costume and a black hat with a white tassel, said police in New Sewickley Twp., Beaver Co., Pa.

Chief Ronald Leindecker told the Beaver County Times that a male relative mistook the girl for a skunk and fired a shotgun, hitting her in the shoulder, arm, back and neck Saturday night.

Leindecker told the newspaper that the girl was alert and talking when she was flown to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, about 30 miles away.

The man, Leindecker said, hadn't been drinking, and he doesn't know whether charges will be filed. New Sewickley police said that decision will be made in a few days.