Paintball laws? Some kid paintballed our house for no reason!

[mattkime]

[Speedy]

Texas? Don't you just shoot back with whatever firearm you like?

katkramer wrote:
Does anyone know of any paintball laws in Texas

[Robert M]

Kat,

Can you prove the minor did the deed? This is going to become a major issue since you weren't home when this occurred and, in all likelihood, have nobody who can attest to the fact the kid did it. So, you'll have to confront the family with the hope the kid 'fesses up to the crime and/or report it with the hope the police will go to the family and the hope the kid 'fesses up to it.

Robert

[davester]

What Robert said. If I was a kid intent on vandalizing someone's house, I certainly wouldn't do the house across the street. Why do you think he was the vandal?

As far as paintball laws are concerned, this has nothing to do with paintball gun regulations. It is simply a case of vandalism. There are plenty of laws that cover vandalism (though this is Texas, maybe vandalism is legal there, many other strange things are).

[Rick-o]

followup, katkramer? Don't leave us hanging! :popcorn:

[davester]

Katkramer is out buying a high-powered paintball rifle :devil:

[mjgkramer]

katkramer forgets what a pain she was as a preteen and teen and can be even now in her 40s. :-) Just joking about the present.

[OWC Larry]

Hopefully it was resolvable without getting the cops involved. The parents can't possibly approve of their son doing that crap. Ex-LA cop or not - ought to take care of any time and costs to clean up the mess. And that paint ball stuff can be tough with certain materials too.

May be necessary to get the cops involved, which is a shame... seems there was a day when communities and neighborhoods took care of their stuff and parents disciplined their kids vs. the law needing to get involved - which often can be counterproductive long term too.

Hope all works out and that your neighbor with the trigger happy son is just as annoyed as you are - at his son that be.

[RAMd®d]

If there *were* laws in Texas about minors and paintball guns, Dad would likely be of *very* little help.

As mentioned, this is straight up vandalism in most jurisdicitons. Paintball laws would just be in addition to the former.

I'd have called the cops anyway. I might have suspected who did it, but since I didn't see it... And there might be an insurance claim. Photos might suffice but some companies might require a police report.

Talking to the Dad later would still be an option, since one wouldn't *have* to tell them that they learned who the culprit was. IF they found out or could prove it.

But that level of vandalism needs some real attention, and I tend to doubt that talking to the dad would be enough.

[katkramer]

DAD!!! I wasn't THAT much of a pain!!! (although my mom used to take us out toilet papering houses so we wouldn't be out in the middle of the night by ourselves unsupervised...thanks, mom!) Hmmm...and a friend on Facebook just reminded me that we used to have some really great water balloon wars.

Okay, here's the update.

Oh.....I'm feeling bad. I did file a criminal mischief report last night, but it doesn't name the perpetrator. That was fine, as we wanted to talk with his parents first. They told me that they couldn't do anything unless there was a WITNESS to the actual shooting of the gun. Circumstantial evidence doesn't work.

We were outside and talked to a couple of the neighbors. One kid said he saw the other neighbor's kid wiping off our garage door with a towel. Still, no shooter.

Went over there about 10:15 this morning, and his parents were enjoying morning coffee in bed. I think we kind of ruined the moment. They called their son (13), and asked him about it. He said he didn't do it, but since dad's a former police detective, he was out to get the truth. Seems to be a pretty tough dad.

Their paintball gun wasn't even working, so he was puzzled. It ends up the kid had a classmate from school come over, and the kid was a pitcher on the baseball team. He apparently threw one at our neighbor, then apparently threw them at the transformer box in our yard, but since they were being thrown by hand, occasionally they hit things...like our garage door! I had noticed that a lot were intact...the "hand-throwing" explained a lot (like that they were directly behind the transformer box on the ground intact).

The parents were very good. They told him that he needed to go get a bucket, ladder, sponges, and Simple Green, and sent him over to clean it up. Picking up the little paintballs was like hunting for Easter eggs.

I even got a chance to vent to the kid about paintballs next to my beloved Nissan Murano...it was good to get that off my chest!

His dad also made him sweep up the leaves off our driveway as a bonus. While he was out there, I made a point to go out and thank him for his hard work and his efforts to "make it right." While we were talking, he apologized again, and tears started streaming down his face.

I asked him if he did it, and he said that the other kid was a pretty violent kid, always in trouble in school, and he was the aggressor. Johnny (the kid's name) threw some back in "self defense." He said the worst part is that he really didn't make the mess, and I told him

He did such a great job, I think I got him a job with another neighbor helping her out with her yardwork. He seems like a very polite, very nice kid.

He got grounded for the entire Spring Break. I feel REALLY bad about that. His dad was pretty tough on him. At one time, I was going to volunteer my long-handled car washing brush, but his mom said "no, he needs to remember how awful it was." I'm pretty impressed with the parents, although I felt responsible for his ass-chewing!

Anyway, a happy ending. He's coming over Tuesday to power wash the bricks. There's a couple of areas he thinks could be cleaner. :-)