CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The University of Chicago issued an alert Monday warning of a series of recent paintball attacks near and on its campus.
In the alert, Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Eric Heath and Dean of Students Michele Rasmusen said university police have received eight reports over the past several days of people in vehicles firing paintballs at pedestrians.
The attacks appear to be part of a pattern of similar paintball incidents reported in the city and suburbs in recent weeks, the alert said.
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“While these incidents typically have not caused serious injury, they pose a community hazard and we take them seriously,” the alert said.
Several of the incidents reported to the university have occurred on campus while most have occurred off campus, the alert said. The incidents have occurred in both daylight and evening hours.
The University of Chicago Police incident log turned up five in Hyde Park and Woodlawn near the U of C campus in just the past few days, CBS 2 reported.
• At noon Friday, a person walking with others at 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue was hit in the hand by a paintball fired by someone in a dark-colored sedan.
• At 12:45 p.m. Saturday, a jogger was struck on the leg by a paintball fired from a passing vehicle near the U of C’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at 915 E. 60th St.
• At 1 p.m. Saturday, two people walking in the 1300 block of East 63rd Street were struck with paintballs fired by someone in a red Mercedes.
• At 11:50 p.m. Saturday, a person walking in the 5500 block of South Kimbark Avenue was struck in the leg with a paintball fired from a black sport-utility vehicle.
• At 12:35 a.m. Sunday, two people were walking along University Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets when they were hit with paintballs by someone who then ran into a waiting black sedan.
University police said in the incident reports that the cases were referred to Chicago Police, and indicated that the victims declined medical attention in most of the cases.
University police detectives also are reviewing records to identify the vehicles involved, and university police are also conducting directed patrols in response to the paintball attacks, the alert said.
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In another incident, a man and a woman, both 19, were walking at about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 5 in the 5300 block of South University Avenue when a male wearing a mask approached them and fired paintballs at them, Chicago police said.
A series of paintball attacks also struck Chicago around this time last year, largely in the downtown area.
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