CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new war is brewing on Charlotte streets, with paintballs instead of bullets, and it’s frustrating police and angering homeowners.
The small pellets filled with bright colors are normally fired on private courses by people wearing protective clothing, but paintball wars took a public turn this week.
A paintball hit Anika Furbert’s northeast Charlotte home Thursday afternoon.
[Paintball shooters say it's just a game: 'We're not doing anything violent']
It wasn't until she got outside and saw the blue blots and a hole in the vinyl siding that she learned how bad the damage was.
“Like I said, I really didn't think a paintball gun,” Furbert said. “There was a lot of paint. There was a lot of paint and it caused damage to my house.”
There were about a half-dozen holes in the siding of another home about 2 miles away.
The man who lives at the home said it appeared someone fired as they drove by.
“I just came home and there were paintballs and holes in the house,” he said.
The paintball damage comes after Chopper 9 flew over the aftermath of a running paintball battle on the highway.
Two young men told Channel 9 the paintball battles are all in fun, and they are not targeting innocent people.
“We're not doing nothing negative. We're just having a good time amongst each other,” paintball enthusiast Marcus Adams said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney has a different view.
"I don't see where paintball battles are productive and I think it could lead to tragic consequences,” he said.
Putney said the guns that fire the paintballs look so menacing that someone could mistake them for real guns and shoot back with the real thing.
“If that's something that you want to do, you do that with your peers. You do it amongst each other,” Furbert said. “You don't come to somebody's house and cause damage to their property.”