CHICAGO (CBS) — Police were searching Wednesday for the suspect or suspects caught video-shooting paintball at people across Chicagoland.
Families are also seeking justice after the prank got out of hand.
Video taken on Halloween night shows a group shooting paintballs at random people from a car. The videos were recorded and posted online from the same Southwest Side area where Adrean Murillo’s sister was injured.
“It’s really bad what they did to her,” Murillo said.
His sister, Vicky, ended up bleeding on the ground in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood.
Andreas Murillo
“She was shot, I believe, twice in the body – once in the face, and it hit her eye,” Murillo said.
Paramedics rushed Vicky to hospital by ambulance after the paintball pierced her eye.
“She had emergency surgery because she had a ruptured eyeball,” Murillo said. “Right now, she has no vision.”
This all happened because someone thought it would be cool to shoot people with paintballs while they were making videos. Murillo said the fact that the paintball attackers recorded everything says something about their intentions.
“It was malicious. They knew what they were doing,” he said. “I mean, they went out that day specifically for that reason.”
Murillo posted about his sister’s incident online and soon discovered that the boys behind the paintball attacks had been going on a few days before his sister’s attack.
“It’s the same car, same color, same everything,” Murillo said. “That means this person has been in this area for a while.”
It turns out the family has learned that the paintball attacks have also spread to nearby suburbs.
“I was contacted by a detective in Cicero, and I was contacted by the police in North Riverside, and both said, ‘Hey, we’re going to connect your case to ours — same vehicle, same color,’” Murillo said.
Yet Vicky was the only one seriously injured. Her family started a GoFundMe as her medical bills mount as they wait to see if her vision will return.
“It’s all a waiting game,” Murillo said. “She has, I don’t know how many procedures are underway, one of which is this Friday. So we’re just trying to stay as optimistic as possible.’
The family is equally optimistic that police will find the people who found such attacks funny.
“We want it to be loaded as high as possible because if it isn’t, it will be a slap on the wrist,” Murillo said.
Yet Vicky’s life is changed forever.
