LANCASTER — Lancaster Police announced Tuesday they have made an arrest in a spree of assaults and vandalism involving paintball guns last weekend.
Roman Warren, 20, has been charged with one count of aggravated assault, one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, 10 counts of simple assault, and 10 counts of criminal conspiracy to commit simple assault, police say.
A 17-year-old male juvenile has also been charged in connection to the incidents, which occurred on Saturday and Sunday nights, according to police.
Police say they received approximately 30 calls of incidents involving people, cars, and structures being hit by paintballs. In each incident, witnesses told police the paintballs were fired from inside an occupied vehicle, described as a silver SUV.
On Sunday night, police say, officers responded to one such call at a home on the 600 block of Almanac Ave. The victim in the case told police she knew two of the vehicle’s occupants, identifying Warren and the male juvenile as the ones who had fired paintballs from a silver Jeep Cherokee, striking her home.
Police say they received several other calls of a similar nature in the same area Sunday night.
One officer took up a stationary position to see if he could spot the suspect vehicle, police say. At about 10:06 p.m., the officer saw a silver Jeep Cherokee on the 700 block of Almanac Avenue and conducted a traffic stop, according to police. The officer observed Warren, the 17-year-old juvenile, and two female passengers in the vehicle, along with two paintball guns and paintballs, police say.
While the traffic stop was ongoing, another victim approached police at the scene and said he had been shot in the head and shoulder by paintballs that had been fired from the silver Cherokee, according to police.
Warren had an outstanding arrest warrant for a robbery that had occurred August 2, police say. He was detained on that warrant. A complaint was filed before Lancaster County Juvenile Probation for the 17-year-old male juvenile, according to police. The other passengers were taken to the Lancaster Bureau of Police Station.
Police have put together list of incident calls that occurred on Saturday and Sunday nights:
- Saturday, 7:55 p.m.: a 35 year old male was struck by paintballs on his left arm while on the 1st blk. S. Ann St.
- Saturday, 8:27 p.m.: a 64 year old female and 30 year old female were struck multiple times by paintballs on the 600 blk. E. Marion St.
- Saturday, 8:30 p.m.: a male was struck multiple times by paintballs while near the intersection of St. Joseph St. and Laurel St.
- Saturday, 8:34 p.m.: a 19 year old male was walking on the 1st blk. Church St. when he was struck multiple times by paintballs. That victim was struck on one of his eyes. The victim was transported to the hospital as a trauma patient and will require surgery as a result of the injury to his eye.
- Saturday, 9:04 p.m.: a 53 year old male was struck by multiple paintballs as he was on the 1st blk. S. Marshall St.
- Sunday, 9 p.m.: a 19 year old male was struck on his right arm by multiple paintballs as he was on the 600 blk. Almanac Ave.
- Sunday, 9:22 p.m.: a home on the 1000 blk. S. Duke St. was struck by paintballs. The resident reported seeing a gray Jeep Cherokee and the occupants firing paintballs at her home.
- Sunday, 9:35 p.m.: a 39 year old male was on the 300 blk. Park Ave. when he was struck on his left hand by a paintball.
- Sunday, 9:37 p.m.: a 35 year old male and a 47 year old male reported being struck by paintballs while they were on the 400 blk. New Holland Ave.
The investigation is still ongoing, according to police. It is possible that additional charges could be filed or number of counts could change as additional victims come forward and damage amounts are calculated. Anyone with additional information on these incidents is asked to contact Det. Adam Dommel at (717) 735-3361.
