Exchange students at ‘Welcome to America’ party pelted by paintballs fired from car

Foreign exchange students at a “Welcome to America” party near Buchanan High School in Clovis on Sunday were pelted with paintballs fired from a car, Clovis police reported.

Nearly 40 teenage foreign exchange students were at the party near Nees and Minnewawa avenues when a silver four-door car’s occupants opened fire on the students with paintball guns, Clovis police spokesperson Ty Wood said.

A host mother of a student posted on the social media site NextDoor that four of the students at the party and a host mother had “huge black welts” from the impact of the paintballs.

When police arrived at 12:23 p.m., those at the party declined medical services and said they didn’t want to file a police report. Even so, police searched north and south of where the incident took place. Wood said there were no residential or commercial cameras facing the streets, making it difficult to identify the vehicle and suspects.

Police could not say what school or schools they attended.

Wood said police have no reason to believe the incident was a hate crime.

Clovis police say there were other paintball incidents in Fresno in which vehicles were targeted, and they believe the suspects are the same. “The investigation does not lead toward a hate crime,” Capt. Tom Roberts said.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Exchange students at ‘Welcome to America’ party pelted by paintballs fired from car."