WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | BB Gun and Paintball Gun Shootings in Low Country

BB Gun and Paintball Gun Shootings in Low Country

Authorities in the Low Country are on the lookout for a group of young men who they say terrorized the Bluffton and Okatie communities using cars and bike riders for target practice with their BB guns and paintball guns.

Traffic along May River Road in Bluffton may be back to normal today, but many traveling this highway are taking extra precautions after police say a group of young men in a white pickup truck shot at several cars Friday afternoon with a BB gun.

David Jackson drives this road a lot and is concerned. "It can cause some people to get into a serious accident or killed," said Jackson.

Bluffton police are still investigating, but say they have received at least three reports of victims shot with BB guns.

One happened on the Bluffton Parkway not far from Buckwalter Parkway to a woman riding her bike. She was shot in the leg. And while the BB just bruised her leg, another man driving on May River Road wasn't so lucky.

"He was reaching across to scratch himself and he was shot in the right hand, causing a minor injury, which he did get treated at Coastal Carolina and released," said Sgt. Bryan Norberg of the Bluffton Police Department.

And yet another shooting farther down the road shattered a car window.

The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office is also looking into similar incidents that happened along Highway 170 and at least one house was shot with a paintball gun. What some may think are pranks, police officer say this is no joke.

"It's not a fun and games type thing," said Sgt. Norberg. "If that BB would have hit someone in the face, the eye, while they're driving a vehicle, they could have run into someone else or go up the road and hit something."

Jasper County Sheriff's Office say they also had two similar cases where vehicles were shot at with paintball guns. They too involved a white pickup truck.

If you have any information, call the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office at 843.470.3200, Bluffton Police at 843.706.4550 or the Jasper County Sheriff's Office at 843.726.7777.

Reported by: Jaime Dailey, jdailey@wtoc.com