Dec 31, 2008 2:11 pm US/Pacific
Teen Shoots Homeless Man With Paintball Gun
RIVERSIDE
A 16-year-old boy shot a homeless man with a paintball gun in front of a pair of undercover cops, Riverside police said today.
The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of University and Comer avenues, where two undercover Riverside vice officers were working an anti-prostitution stakeout.
The plainclothes officers spotted a passenger in a late-model Nissan Titan lean out the truck's right window and fire a paintball gun multiple times at a transient walking along University, said Riverside police Sgt. Jaybee Brennan.
She said the victim was struck multiple times, but his condition was not immediately known.
The officers tailed the Nissan and summoned uniformed patrol officers to make a traffic stop, Brennan said. A 16-year-old Hesperia boy was driving the pickup truck, which turned out to be his father's, and the 16-year-old suspect was sitting up front, according to Brennan.
Two friends, another 16-year-old and an 18-year-old, were in back, she said. None of the youths were identified.
The driver was cited for reckless driving and for violating conditions of his provisional driver's license, which does not allow passengers due to his age. The pickup was impounded, Brennan said.
The alleged 16-year-old shooter was arrested on suspicion of assault, and his friends were released to the custody of their parents, according to Brennan.
Four days ago, a group of teens in Costa Mesa attacked a homeless man with paintball guns, seriously injuring one of his eyes. Gregory Dahlgren was sitting in an alley when the unidentified teens pumped more than two-dozen pellets at him.
Doctors told police this victim could permanently lose sight in the injured eye, authorities said.
Costa Mesa police were seeking the public's help in identifying suspects in that attack.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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