Columbus Police are warning parents and kids about using paintballs guns to play tag.
These games have resulted in property damage and serious personal injury. Police said these acts have escalated to serious criminal offenses.
This comes after police have responded to several incidents of paint balls tied to crimes.
Officers responded to a call May 26 after two men were carrying large guns and firing shot at each other. The guns turned out to be paintball guns but were exact replica of AR-15s.
Columbus Police said many of the paintball guns sold today are easily mistaken for assault weapons and are very popular.
A 20-year-old was charged with felonious assault May 29 after shooting a 72-year-old man in the eye with a paintball gun. Thomas Woodruff is accused in the shooting that left the man with 100 percent loss of sight in his right eye.
The following morning, officers responded to Arlington Avenue where they found several homes shot with paintballs but didn’t locate any suspects.
Later in the day, an employee at Paintball Ohio was shot with paintballs after confronting some men that were throwing trash on the property.
With school out, police urge parents and children to understand where and when paintball guns should be fired and use them as intended, not as a weapon.
