Paintball Attack Injures CTA Bus Driver In Chatham

CHICAGO — A CTA bus driver was hit with pellets from a paintball gun in the latest of a wave of paintball attacks happening in the Chicago area.

Chicago police said the 44-year-old driver was struck as two passengers were disembarking from the bus around 9:40 p.m. Monday near 80th Street and Cottage Grove in Chatham.

The driver told police he did not know where the paintballs were coming from and could not describe the shooter. He was taken to Jackson Park Hospital in good condition.

Paintball shootings have been reported all over the city since the summer, leaving residents on edge. This latest attack follows on the heels of three other paintball shootings reported last week.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Oct. 20, a man walking his dog on the sidewalk when someone in a fired paintball pellets at him from a white sedan, hitting the man in his body, police said. The man refused medical treatment.

Around the same time, police said a 34-year-old man was riding his bike in the street in the 1800 block of West Hubbard when the white sedan appeared again. The bicyclist was hit in the right arm and groin area. He refused medical treatment.

A 61-year-old woman was standing on the sidewalk in the 6100 block of South Ashland Avenue shortly after 1 a.m. Oct. 21 when someone fired a paintball from a red SUV. She was hit in the right hand and refused medical treatment.

The paintball shootings are believed to be a game when carloads of teens film themselves firing paintballs at people and post the shootings on social media, Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) told Patch. People who are hit by the pellets usually receive nasty welts and bruises.

Paintball shootings have happened in Los Angeles, Modesto, Calif., and Anchorage, Alaska, according to news reports.