According to a WolfAlert sent out by the NC State University Police Department, two men shot paintball guns at pedestrians on Hillsborough Street on Sept. 4.
The shooters drove trucks and were young, white and wearing baseball caps, as reported in the alert. There are currently no definitive suspects.
NC State Police Chief Dan House said the incident has potential to be very serious if a witness believes it to be real gunfire.
“This is not just some college prank, this is a very serious matter,” House said. “And, you know, what if that same thing happened, and it just happened to be an undercover police officer or something. Chances are that the police officer is going to return fire, but simply real bullets. Or a citizen that’s armed under the concealed-carry permit can very well be saying that their life is in danger and return fire. So it could be horrifically, not only a terrifying event, but realistically a tragic event if something like that did happen.”
House also said more people are arming themselves, which could lead to a greater chance the event becomes deadly.
“These days you can’t even just assume that it’s going to be a white male with a haircut like mine who could potentially have a gun,” House said. “In fact, I’m a concealed weapons carry instructor and most of my students are female. So, could be anybody you go up against, and if that had happened, that person that fired back a real weapon would be justified in doing what they’re doing in most circumstances.”
Sam Christy, a graduate student in aerospace engineering and president of NC State Club Paintball, said playing paintball involves many safety precautions. Players wear protective gear, chronograph their guns to shoot at a safe speed, shoot from 10-20 feet distances and play in protected areas.
He also said it can be painful to be shot when these precautions are not followed.
“It can be pretty painful,” Christy said. “It can sting, it can break the skin or cause you to bleed, and I’ve had that happen a couple times. I would be willing to bet that if they just went to Walmart or Dick’s Sporting Goods, or something like that, and just picked a paintball gun up and started shooting people. It’s not chronographed out of the box. So you know, they can be shooting any number of different speeds low or high. But like I said, if they’re on the high end, it’s going to hurt.”
House said similar incidents occurred last spring but did not occur over the summer.
“So, just by deduction, that tends to tell you it’s probably someone in the student population,” House said.
The events in the spring and fall have included different vehicles, however all included descriptions of young-white males wearing baseball caps.
House said once there are suspects, the NC State University Police Department intends to charge them with the most they can. This could include assault, assault by pointing a gun or going armed to the terror of the public — which is a felony.
Christy said these events are not representative of those who enjoy paintball recreationally.
“I wouldn’t say that anybody who plays the sport is violent like that,” Christy said. “Generally anyone who’s actually invested in the sport is only playing at fields where the sport is played. They are not just going around shooting people; that would be someone who had some sort of ulterior motive, which does not define the people who play this as a sport recreationally. I think I can speak for everyone who plays and say that we don’t condone that; that’s not something we do. That’s not in the spirit of the game.”
