A victim of an airsoft gun attack on April 28 in Kelowna is scared to walk the streets at night after being hit by approximately 20 pellets.
The victim requested to be identified by first name only.
Jen was out for her regular after dinner walk at about 9:45 p.m. “A black pick-up truck pulled up beside me with the windows unrolled and they just started firing.”
The victim was hit several times in the arm and leg before ducking behind a nearby hydro pole.
“It wasn’t super fast, but it happened so unexpectedly that I didn’t know what I was being shot with.” The shots she described were rapid fire and sounded as though they were coming from an automatic gun.
Jen ran toward the direction of her home after realizing the shots weren’t real bullets. Once she felt she was a safe distance away, Jen called 911.
“They laughed as they pulled away,” Jen said, noting she heard three to four voices as the vehicle fled. “If that had been real bullets, I would be dead on the sidewalk.”
The incident happened on Hartman Road and she watched pick-up truck turn onto Craig Road near Rutland Elementary School, but after police encouraged Jen to post a warning online it became clear she wasn’t the only victim.
A post to Facebook the evening of April 28, 2023 warning others in Kelowna of a recent airsoft gun attack. (Facebook)
After talking to other victims, Jen said she was able to put together a timeline of where the suspects went after she was attacked.
“I can totally trace their path time-wise from me to the next person around the corner in front of the elementary school. You continue onto Craig and it turns into Hemlock. Hemlock ends at Hardie, so they literally got someone just by the elementary school… and then just by the stop sign, and then they turned right down Hardie.”
Jen said a few days after the attack she learned a coworker’s child had been struck by pellets on Hardie Rd.
Kelowna RCMP released and later redacted a statement on May 1 saying a group of youth had been arrested. At this time no arrests have been made and the investigation is on-going.
“I have walked every day after dinner for seven years. I have never had anything like that… Now I’m making sure that I’m going when it’s still daylight, which is easier because it’s lighter.”
Jen said she knows the attack has been reported to police by other victims and she did see officers canvassing the area the day after the attack, but she hasn’t received any updates on the attack.
Anyone with information regarding the airsoft gun attack that took place in Rutland on the evening of April 28 should call Kelowna RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
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