SONOMA, Calif. (KCBS RADIO) – Two seventh grade girls crossing Sonoma Town Square were struck and injured by paintball and airsoft gun pellets on Friday night when they were apparently mistaken for high schoolers taking part in an annual hazing event.
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Each May, dozens of students at Sonoma Valley High School participate in a tradition called "Fugitive Night," where freshmen volunteer to run up to two miles across town while seniors, packed in vehicles, target them with non lethal paintball, splatter or airsoft guns.
"They're willing targets, they signed up to be a part of Fugitive," Sonoma Valley student Gary Winthrop told KCBS Radio.
The two seventh grade victims walking near Sonoma Town Square were mistaken for real targets. According to the Sonoma Index Tribune, the two girls were crossing Broadway at 9:39 p.m. when two cars barreled down the street toward Sonoma Plaza and the occupants began spraying them with paintball and airsoft pellets. One of the unidentified girls revealed to the outlet a bright red, quarter sized welt on her arm she claimed she received after being struck.
Layshia Dean, the mother to three teens in Sonoma County, argued police should put an end to Fugitive Night, which has apparently been held for generations.
"To me it’s physically harming someone, so I don’t know why teenagers would be in a different category then everyone else," she told KCBS Radio.
Sonoma Police were not available for comment to KCBS Radio, but an investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Fugitive night is not sanctioned by the high school, but the administration has claimed they are powerless to stop it.
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