Port Moody police are investigating after at least two vehicles were allegedly shot with what investigators believe to be paintballs.
In one case, the impact of the shot smashed the vehicle’s rear window, police said.
Port Moody police Const. Jason Maschke said officers were called to the area of Spring and Douglas streets on Wednesday with reports of the first vehicle being struck.
“Upon arrival, they were approached by another driver who advised that their rear window had been smashed out of their vehicle, similarly to the first incident,” he said.
Spring Street is a narrow, alley-like route that runs parallel to Clarke and Saint Johns streets, two Port Moody streets that become heavily jammed with traffic during evening rush hour.
Residents of the area have complained that frustrated drivers regularly try to use Spring Street as a shortcut to avoid congestion.
“They come down pretty quick. It’s between two major roads so people try to cut out the traffic and fly by,” said Brian Broughton, whose daughter attends a preschool with an entrance on Spring Street.
“People get pretty upset about people flying down alleys, but (shooting at them) might be a bit of an extreme.”
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Port Moody police say they’re investigating the incidents as “isolated” mischief and that they haven’t connected the shootings to rat-running in the neighbourhood.
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“We’re not sure exactly whether that is the motive. Whether one of the neighbours was frustrated and actually shot one of the vehicles with a paintball, that’s all up for speculation and investigation,” said Maschke.
He added that both of the alleged incidents were reported to have happened around a similar time, though officers say they weren’t able to locate a paintball in the second case, adding that the vehicle was possibly hit by a BB.
He said police are also still trying to figure out how a paintball could fire with enough force to smash a car window.
“We’ve also heard rumblings that apparently freezing paintballs is something that people do, too, which can cause some damage to the windows,” he said.
“Because that certainly was a question we had: how can a paintball break a window?”