Police have arrested three people who fired paintball guns at
moving vehicles, hitting one in the windscreen.
Their antics have been labelled idiotic with the potential
for fatal consequences.
Levin police were called today at about 3.30pm to deal with a
group of three males firing shots from a paintball gun at
members of the public.
This group were in a grey/black Toyota Hilux with large
wheels. They travelled from Otaki Beach to Levin and fired a
paintball gun out the window of their moving vehicle.
The shots were aimed at vehicles travelling south on State
Highway 1.
Police have received three complaints so far, including one
where the yellow paintball has hit the front windscreen of a
moving vehicle.
Responding to 111 calls the police located the offenders in
Bolton Road, Levin. A search of the vehicle found the
offenders had dismantled the gun and hidden it throughout the
vehicle.
Two 14-year-old Levin youths have been referred to the
Horowhenua Youth Aid Section for recklessly discharging an
airgun.
A 20-year-old Levin man, who was the driver of the vehicle,
has been charged with being a party to recklessly discharging
an airgun. He is due to appear in the Levin District Court on
January 10.
The paintball gun has been seized and is likely to be
destroyed.
The group have admitted to firing on five motor vehicles,
some letterboxes and residential houses.
"This kind of offending could have had fatal consequences,"
police said. "The paintball which hit the vehicle's front
windscreen could have obscured the driver's vision, causing a
crash.
"With the amount of traffic on the road over the holiday
period this was an incredibly stupid thing to do."
Police want to speak to anyone who was shot at by this group.
- Lane Nichols of APNZ
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