Local

Police: Teens arrested for shooting man in face, chest with paintball gun

Paintball games in Zalesie Górne near Piaseczno, Poland. Author: Piotr VaGla Waglowski, http://www.vagla.pl

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — Four teenage boys were arrested in Lynnwood early Sunday after police say they shot a pedestrian with a paintball gun as they drove by.

The victim, a homeless man in his 50s, approached a Lynnwood police officer 12:01 a.m. who was making a traffic stop near the 19200 block of 196th Street Southwest.

The man, who had swelling and bruising underneath one of his eyes, said he had been walking to work when a carload of teenagers pulled up next to him in a church parking lot and fired a paintball gun at him, hitting him in the face and chest.

The victim was able to describe the vehicle, which he last saw on 196th St. SW, and said it was driving with its headlights off.

The man told the officer that when he was hit in the face, he at first thought he had been shot with a real gun and he could hear laughter coming from inside the vehicle as it took off.

The officer had seen the suspect vehicle exit onto 196th St. SW while he was conducting the traffic stop and requested additional officers to try to locate the car.  Officers quickly located a car matching the description driving in the area that was making odd turns and occasionally shutting off its headlights.

When officers pulled over the car, they saw a paintball gun inside, and after further investigation, all four boys in the car, ages 15 and 16 years old, were arrested and taken to the Denney Juvenile Justice Center where they were booked for investigation of second-degree assault.

Two were from Edmonds, one from Woodinville, and one from Lynnwood.

More news from KIRO 7

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE NEWS APP