PATERSON, NJ (News 12 New Jersey/ CNN) - Police in New Jersey are looking for the person who’s responsible for shooting a teen more than 20 times with a paintball gun at close range.
The 14-year-old victim returned home Tuesday with a hoodie covering his painful welts. The paintball attack happened at his front door.
"I was actually at work. My mom was present at the time of the incident. This person just came with the paintball gun and he started shooting, firing," the boy’s mother Carolina Vasquez explained.
She said the attack has left her son physically hurt and deeply anxious.
“He doesn’t want to go back to school. He’s scared. He’s terrified,” Vasquez said of her son. “He said, ‘What if this person comes and does something worse to me with a real gun?’”
Around 7 o'clock Monday night, the boy opened the door to the family home. The paintball shooter opened fire.
Green shells exploded in the boy's clothing and even on the wall.
As many as 25 welts are now left to heal after a night in the hospital.
Vasquez said the shooter is the older brother of a friend of her son. They are hoping to get word soon that police have taken him into custody.
The family said they don’t know what prompted the attack.
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