Oak Park Teens, Chicago Homeowners Stunned By Paintball Attacks: 'Who Does This Kind Of Stuff?'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Their clothes are still marked with the evidence.
With the story you will only see on 2, CBS 2's Steven Graves reports from Oak Park where teenage boys were hit by a surprise paintball attack.
Those teenage boys, one of whom is the son of a CBS 2 employee, said they were hit in Oak Park right near the border of Chicago. In the city, there are reports of more paintball attacks. And people said the incidents are annoying and potentially dangerous.
Jontavion Hunt and Emmanuel Crawford, both 17, describe how a bike ride turned into a painful situation. That's when a car drove up next to them in an alley near North Avenue in Oak Park.
"I got hit with a bunch a of paintballs. I like, stopped my bike and they went ahead," Crawford said.
"And then they stopped at me," Hunt said. "And I got shot seven, eight times.
It was like a stinging sensation when I first felt the impact," Crawford said.
On his legs too, where the paintball left an orange stain. It's been there since he was shot on Wednesday. Clothes were ruined, but both thankful it wasn't worse. But they're asking why someone would attack another person with paintballs?
"At first when I saw it, I was like 'who threw a tomato at my window?' I didn't know it was a paintball. And then I saw the plastic casing," said Kat Leavitt, whose home was hit by a paintball.
At least two homes in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, along with Leavitt's, were also stained with orange paint. Some of it is still on a window after neighbors think someone came through driving or walking Tuesday night.
"They must've been on foot, given how close it was to the front door and front window," Leavitt said. She put the incident on social media where she said neighbors shared similar frustrations. Some people were hit, she said, while walking dogs.
"And what if my dog got shot by one of them? Who does this kind of stuff," Leavitt wondered.
It's a serious offense. Last year around Halloween, someone in Chicago was shooting people in the face. Police said in those cases, suspects could be charged with aggravated battery.
Oak Park police are urging victims to contact them if it's happened to them.
