Chattanooga paintball battles intended to relieve violence spur safety debate

Paintballers are seen in the 2500 block of 4th Ave. (Baker South) / Chattanooga Police Department photo
Paintballers are seen in the 2500 block of 4th Ave. (Baker South) / Chattanooga Police Department photo

Paintball battles have been playing out in different pockets of Chattanooga in recent weeks, sparking both concern and support within the community and among officials as police sound the alarm after just over a dozen related injuries.

Some community and City Council members publicly support the fights between young adults involving paintball guns, airsoft guns and smoke bombs.

Chattanooga police say the battles appear to have started as a fun game among friends and have since morphed into targeting others who aren't involved in the activity. The paintball fights also have been linked to vandalism, they say.

Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage is credited with starting the movement "guns down, paintballs up" two years ago in an attempt to curb gun violence in Atlanta. The trend has spread to cities across the country and has largely backfired, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The trend made it to Chattanooga in recent weeks, offering many a nonviolent outlet, according to community members.

"We've seen this being done in other cities and it looked fun. So young men out in the Westside, Southside, and in the East started buying equipment maybe three weeks ago," activist and 2021 Chattanooga City Council candidate Marie Mott told the Times Free Press Wednesday of the young adults participating in the game. "Violence has plagued our city for so long, I'm immensely proud of the young people who found a creative way to battle without loss of life."

Despite the intent behind the game, Chattanooga police say that since May 1 they've received more than 70 reports of paintball activity, most of which takes place between 5 and 10 p.m., police spokeswoman Elisa Myzal said.

Early on, the games were connected to the "guns down, paintballs up" movement, Chief David Roddy said.

"We absolutely appreciate the intent of that," Roddy said. "We would much rather, as a police department, have paintballs going through the air of Chattanooga than real bullets."

But, he said, the game has spread and "is starting to cause real fear" and real injuries, whether "intended or not."

The targeting of uninvolved third parties prompted the department to seek to raise awareness among the community.

"The thing that really set this off is we have had some individuals' behavior branch over to where it is deliberate," Roddy said. "They are intentionally targeting people that they know are not participating. They're targeting people that are not playing the game, that are not carrying a paintball gun. So when we started seeing that and hearing the spread of concern and fear, then we have an absolute obligation to get this message out and ask for our community to step into these conversations as well."

City Council members and Mott addressed the matter last week during a council meeting, calling for participants to be safe and respectful and for community members to be aware of what's going on.

"They're having fun, and I think it's cool to see these guys not shooting at each other, to see rival gang members or people who were at it at one time using paintballs and smoke bombs to enjoy themselves and not shoot real bullets," said Councilman Anthony Byrd, who represents much of East Chattanooga. "But I just want people to be mindful and be careful because a lot of people are getting hit with these paintballs and cars are getting hit ... the community needs to know that these kids are out here doing this ... and the police are on top of it."

While Byrd praised police for their attention on the issue, Mott said many community members feel harassed by the police presence surrounding the games.

"The police have consistently come into the Westside and stopped/detained young men who had paintball guns. Several livestream recordings have captured this on Facebook," she said Wednesday. "The camera was moved into the bowl [dead end turn-around] on Grove [Street]. Several young men expressed they felt it was retaliation over paintball excursions in the neighborhood."

The camera on Grove Street has been in place since 2018, and no cameras have been relocated to address paintballing, Roddy said.

Still, Mott believes the policing is over the top.

"I think that it's a bit egregious, surveilling a community because they want to have fun," Mott said in her comments to the council last week.

According to Roddy, the policing is to prevent unintended violence spurred by the paintball fight.

"The fear is that somebody truly believes that they're being shot at with a real firearm, and they respond accordingly," Roddy said. "They pull their real firearm, and suddenly now we have a very real, permanent tragedy within our community of someone who thought they were playing a game has tragically lost their life."

Earlier this week, a man was hit multiple times in the face while standing outside a friend's home, according to a public Facebook post. The man posted photos of his injuries and said he lost his vision in his left eye.

Police said a suspect has not yet been arrested.

Roddy said when officers see people engaged in the paintball games, the officers get out and have a conversation with them about the potential hazards and consequences. Some have apologized.

"They say, 'We didn't mean for it to get out of hand.' Or, 'I didn't mean for the paint balls to hit them. Or, 'We will go back and clean that up. We were just trying to have fun,'" Roddy said. "And our officers have cautioned them every time, and those cautions have grown stronger since this started, of the potential for a real tragedy and injury to occur from this."

And police understand the appeal of the game, too, Roddy said.

"We use similar equipment in our own training," he said. "But we do it in a safe and controlled environment. We do it with a deliberate purpose, and the only people involved or affected by it are those that are meant to be involved in and affected by it.

"That's kind of the message we would like to get across to the community is, we're not telling you to not engage in what you would like to do entertainment wise, but you need to do it responsibly ... Just don't do it in the streets. Don't do it in your neighborhood. There are all the locations that you can engage in paintball activity. There's probably open areas that people can look at. Do a little research to figure out how you can have the fun that you want."

That's why Mott said she and others have been working on a plan to organize the movement.

"You can't ask them to stop playing in the streets if you don't have an alternative place for them to have fun," she told the Times Free Press. "Rapper [Cameron] "C-Grimey" [Williams] and I have outlined public spaces that could be used as spaces to paintball that are away from the public. It has been sent to the council so we shall see what happens."

The proposed locations including the Carver Center, the Avondale Baseball field, Boone Height field and Westside baseball field.

"I'm glad to see people coming together peacefully. The friendly competition, I think, is cool," Grimey said in a Facebook Live stream. "Me, personally, I wish we could have found some other competition than ... shootin' at each other. But hey, it's non-violent, it's all good ... Just watch out what you're doing. Have fun with it. Be safe with it."

"Common sense should rule," he added. "Let's not destroy any businesses. Let's not destroy any property. Let's be smart."

Contact Sarah Grace Taylor at staylor@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6416. Follow her on Twitter @_sarahgtaylor.

Contact Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @Hughes Rosana.

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