Nationwide Paintball Wars Causing Concern for Baltimore Police

Nationwide, police are tackling a new type of gun violence. Hundreds of paintball shootings have been reported in multiple states, and now it’s picking up in Baltimore.

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Police say Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage’s campaign against firearms may have backfired — they’ve linked at least two deaths to paintball wars.

In April, 3-year-old T’Rhigi Diggs was shot while he slept in the back of his mother’s car in Milwaukee. Police say he was killed by a teen who fired a handgun at people shooting paintballs.

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Weeks later, another death, 19-year-old Zyquarius Bradley who was shot and killed in Greensboro. His body found next to a car covered with paintballs.

Baltimore police say it’s also a concern in the city.

“These guns look real, an officer pulled over a vehicle because they saw a rifle sticking out of the window of a vehicle, and they get up and find out it’s a paintball gun,” said Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith. {snip}

People caught firing a paintball gun could face disorderly conduct or other criminal charges.