A 17-year-old Auckland girl suffered a swollen and split lip, and was lucky not to be hit in the eye, after being shot by a paintball gun in Mt Maunganui, say police.
The drive-by shooting on Saturday left the girl traumatised after she arrived at the Mount that day for a beach holiday.
Police, who have condemned the incident as "a random act of violence", were today still hunting for the shooter and the vehicle he was travelling in. a distinctive modified green 4WD Subaru captured on closed-circuit television.
The shooter, who took three shots at the girl's head, one of which hit her in the face, was described as around 20 years old, with olive skin and scruffy brown hair. He was wearing a black hat, sunglasses and a white top.
The driver was a woman, also around 20, slim with blonde hair and wearing a white singlet.
The car had silver trim around the bottom, heavily tinted rear windows and a dent near the rear on the driver's side.
Constable Todd Hilleard said that the shooting had left the victim with a swollen and split lip but she could easily have been more seriously hurt.
"It could've gone into her eye or worse," he told The New Zealand Herald.
