Two groups of girls were allegedly targeted and shot with some type of pellet gun in Portland last weekend.
The attacks took place on the same street, two nights apart.
“I was like in shock. My first thing to do was just start running,” 11-year-old Bella Davenport said.
Bella and two of her friends were walking home from a convenience store Sunday night when they noticed a car following them.
“There was a car speeding down the hill. And it just pulled over to the side and turned off its lights,” Bella said.
As they continued walking down Leland Street, behind Deering High School, her friend told them to hide along the fence of Memorial Stadium.
That’s when Bella says someone in the car started shooting at them, with what police believe was an airsoft rifle.
“We jumped into there,” she said. “And the car sped down the road and started shooting at us.”
Bella said she saw a white man with a hairy arm stick the gun out the window and fire.
“It was like a long gun, yellow and black, kind of like a bumblebee yellow color, though,” she said.
She said all three of them were hit by the tiny plastic balls, which left welts on their face, back and legs.
“I got hit a few times on the back of my legs. One of my friends got shot in the face,” Bella said.
“It’s traumatic,” Bella’s stepmother, Courtney Davenport, said. “They don’t know if it’s a real gun or not.”
After Davenport filed a police report, she learned two other teenage girls were also shot on Leland Street two nights earlier by someone possibly firing an Orbeez gun, which shoots water gel balls.
The family has posted flyers in the area to warn others and to hopefully find out who’s doing this.
“I don’t get why a person would just want to go out and just start shooting teenage kids,” Bella said.
Portland police said they’re giving special attention to the area in an attempt to keep an eye out for a suspect and keep the neighborhood safe.