Paintballs fired at pedestrians near Temple campus
A man suspected of shooting people with a paintball gun near Temple University's campus temporarily barricaded himself inside a house in North Philadelphia Sunday, according to a university spokesman. Witnesses later reported seeing a man led from the building by police.
A man suspected of shooting people with a paintball gun near Temple University's campus temporarily barricaded himself inside a house in North Philadelphia Sunday, according to a university spokesman. Witnesses later reported seeing a man led from the building by police.
Officer Christine O'Brien, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman, confirmed that authorities had received reports of a man shooting people with a paintball gun around 1:56 p.m. on the 1500 block of Diamond Street. Later, in an email about 8:30 p.m., O'Brien said she had "no information regarding anyone being taken into custody at this point," but "there is a report of an assault at that location."
Around 3 p.m., Temple sent out an alert telling students to avoid that street because of police activity in the area.
Brandon Lausch, a university spokesman, said numerous pedestrians had complained that someone was firing a paintball gun at passersby. One person was hit, he said, but did not require hospitalization.
Lausch said that when police arrived on scene, the suspect hid in a house. It was unclear whether the suspect was firing paintballs at pedestrians from a window in the house or from the street.
The police activity had forced the closure of some streets in the area, said Lausch. Authorities received similar complaints of people being hit with paintballs overnight Saturday. Lausch said Sunday's activity, on the eve of Halloween, may have been related.
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