Took 2 rounds in Englewood this morning (paintball, thankfully!)

It's always something on the Southside, baby! 3 weeks ago my bike was stolen from a CTA station. Today, riding up Damen around 63rd or so, I got hit by something in the right shin. There was stuff whizzing by my head, I thought maybe someone was throwing rocks. But then I recognized the "Pop" of a gun, and took a really painful round in my left hand. For just a second I thought, "Shit, this could be live rounds!" The "pops" were too soft to be live (unless a silencer) and then I saw the paint (mixed with blood) running down. I gotta' rethink this bike commute from the far southside thing...

But I give them props for marksmanship. I was going about 17-18 mph and they nailed me from 150 feet away! I suppose a skinny white guy on a bike is just too inviting a target. But next time it could be live rounds. Shit!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Shaw on July 5, 2013 at 8:48am

You're right. Upon re-calculation the distance was probably more like 85 feet or so.

Michael A said:

That was an impressive shot, some of the modern paintball markers can shoot up to 25 balls a second. The only thing that saves us is they are very expensive to buy, and operate. 150ft is about the maximum range so I would think they were closer judging from the fact it drew blood ( I played competitive paintball for many years and you can tell by the welt it leaves how close and how fast the paintballs are fired.

Sorry this had to happen to you, all we can hope is that one day they fire paintballs at the wrong person and get some lead tossed back in their direction.