HOUSTON – Police said they have been given the license tag number and full description of two young men who have been shooting people with paintball guns in several Houston neighborhoods.
"It's a dangerous game that these kids are driving around playing and it's not cool," said Michael Soloman, who works at A-J Mister Clean Car Wash on Richmond at Dairy Ashford, where paintballs were fired from a passing vehicle for the second time in April.
In the most recent incident, a customer from the car was shot in the ankle, causing some significant pain and leaving his sock covered in yellow paint, Soloman said.
"Being that he took it in the ankle and it hurt him, it really upset him," said Soloman.
According to the report filed with Houston police, two young men rolled down their window as they drove past the car wash on Thursday, then opened fire with several rounds of paintballs. The yellow splotches were left on the front doors and walls of the business, and one shell of the paintball was left behind where the customer was hit on the front porch.
Soloman said it was the second surprise paintball attack at his jobsite.
"It's no fun and games. It really isn't. People get hurt, people get seriously injured by them," he said.
The latest car wash paintball assault was reported to Houston police on Sunday, the same day that another person was shot near an apartment on Meadowglen at Richmond.
"I was really upset," said Lamont Tucker, who was shot in the back and the upper shoulder when a vehicle matching the same description opened fire with paintballs on him.
He jumped in his truck and started following the attackers. As he gave 911 dispatchers the license plate and the full description of the paintball shooters, he told police they opened fire on two older ladies at a bus stop near a church.
Tucker said police told him to stop following the assailants, just in case they had a real gun. Tucker told a reporter, "Why should I stop following them? They don't know if I got one (a gun) either."
He said police should have enough information to arrest the shooters, so he expressed frustration that they remain free to inflict pain and frustration on other unsuspecting victims.
For Soloman at the car wash, he said it could escalate in a hurry if someone does draw their own gun that actually fires bullets.
"People see that and think it's a real gun, and then here we go, somebody gets killed behind somebody wanting to have fun. It's no joke here. It's real serious," he said.
Along with having to clean the paint off walls and doors at the business, workers told Local 2 News they had to wash several splattered cars all over again.
"It upsets us that we got people (who) want to drive by and mess up our work, trying to have a good time. It frustrates you," Soloman said.
If police do catch up with the shooters, they could be charged with a felony crime since a weapon is being used to assault people.