Paintball skirmishes are moving from the fields and woods of Americaās suburbs into the streets of some U.S. cities, wreaking havoc in the form of property damage, injuries and, in some cases, escalating to deadly violence involving guns that shoot bullets instead of balls of paint.
Hundreds ofĀ paintball attacks have been recently reportedĀ in multiple cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta, Detroit, Charlotte, and Greensboro. In Milwaukee alone, police responded to 65 incidents of people getting shot by paintballsĀ over a recent five-day period,Ā Sgt. Melissa Franckowiak of the Milwaukee Police Department said at aĀ news conferenceĀ on Monday.
The paintball āwarsā have been linked by police in several of the cities to a movementĀ known as āpaintballs up, guns downā or āguns down, paintballs up.ā The campaignĀ was started by hip-hop artists, namely Atlanta-based rapperĀ Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, also known as 21 Savage, according toĀ CBS 46.
During the news conference, Franckowiak also attributed Milwaukeeās uptick to 21 Savage.
āHe started the movement in an effort to stop the shootings in the inner cities,ā she said. āItās kind of morphed into something other than what he anticipated, I think. Now these kids have been shooting unsuspecting citizens as opposed to their friends during these paintball wars.ā
While the āwarsā encourageĀ people toĀ trade deadly bullets for paintballs, police say the air-powered weapons areĀ dangerous, especially if a person is shot in the face or eyes. Paintballs can be fired at speeds of up to 300 feet per second, Franckowiak said.
Two shooting deaths by people retaliating with real guns over paintball attacks have also been linked to paintball-related incidents, police said. In one a three-year-old boy was killed, the Washington Post reports.
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