Man Charged with Using Paintball Gun to Deter Would be Addicts

A twenty-four year old Trenton native reached his boiling point last week and attempted to take the law into his own hands. According to the Trentonian, the Defendant fired a paintball gun at a suspected drug addict, that he alleged was using his property, including his front porch to inject their drugs.  Defendant alleges that this is not the first time and that these addicts constantly loiter in and around his property, so that they can use their drugs. To make matters worse, the Defendant also alleges that these addicts would urinate and defecate on it as well. As a result, the Defendant, who allegedly tried to deter would be addicts from using his property by dumping water on them, turned to his paintball gun for additional assistance this week.

Charged with Paintball Gun & Assault Offenses in NJ

After apparently observing a frequent addict loitering around his property, the Defendant took out his paintball gun from his second story window, striking the “victim” several times in the chest, leg and back before she was able to hide behind a parked vehicle. The victim notified the Trenton Police Department about the incident and when they investigated the incident, the Defendant admitted to firing the paintball gun in an effort frighten her away.

As a result of his actions, the Defendant was taken into custody and charged with several indictable offenses. They could include the following: aggravated assaultassault with a deadly weaponunlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose. According to the Trentonian, Lt. Darren Zappley of the Trenton Police Department said “I guess he was fed up with the drug addicts on his porch,” … “But he went a little overboard. You could take an eye out with a paintball.”

Facing Assault Charge in Trenton New Jersey

Unfortunately, this is just yet another classical example of how the use of drugs and in this case heroin, has collateral effects on the community. Not only is the addict in the incident above harming herself but the Defendant, who otherwise appears to be a law abiding citizen, who simply got feed up and tried to protect his family, which includes several young children from witnessing the disgusting behavior is now facing serious felony offenses, which could land him behind bars. If you or a loved one has been charged with a serious indictable offense like heroin possession, aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a gun, terroristic threats, burglary or any other offense for that matter in Mercer County, the Keith Oliver Criminal Law can help. Our office has been defending those accused of serious crimes in courts throughout New Jersey, which includes Mercer County for the better part of the last decade. If you would like to speak to one of our Mercer County criminal defense attorneys today, then please contact our Hamilton office at 609-789-0779 or you can try contacting us online.

For more information on this matter, please checkout the Trentonians article labeled, Trenton man attacks loitering drug addict with paintball gun.

Author: Keith G. Oliver

Founding partner Keith G. Oliver has a passion for helping people who are caught up in the criminal justice system. He believes that everyone has a right to be presumed innocent, and that one mistake shouldn’t define a person forever. This passion drives Mr. Oliver to tirelessly fight for his clients and pursue the best possible outcome in every case.