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Paintball drive-by hits, injures 10-year-old girl
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer
ZEPHYRHILLS -- A drive-by paintball attack by masked men riding in a pickup truck on Halloween injured a third-grader as she went trick-or-treating, authorities reported. According to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, 10-year-old Kymberly Jean Rose of Zephyrhills was walking along 16th Street in the Alpha Village subdivision about 8 p.m. with a group of friends when a gray Mazda pickup truck drove by, turned around and came back. Kymberly's 18-year-old sister, Sandra Ciabattoni, said as the truck passed, she heard a noise, and Kymberly realized she had been struck by something. The girls found a paintball on the ground. Kymberly suffered a red bruise on her abdomen, her mother said Friday. "This could have been any child, and it could have been a real gun," Kymberly's mother, Iona Walley, said. "I am very upset about this, and she's very upset." The little girl was excited about trick-or-treating in her vampire costume and has always been fun-loving and outgoing, Walley said. The attack scared her and left her worried about other bad things that could happen. "For someone to deliberately hurt her like this, it's left her very upset," Walley said. "If I had the money, I would put up a reward for any information that could catch these people." Ciabattoni said there were two people in the back of the truck, likely male, one of them tall and wearing an orange ski mask. The other was shorter, wearing a black ski mask. The truck appeared to be a 1996 or 1997 model. Kymberly was treated at East Pasco Medical Center. Pasco County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jon Powers and Zephyrhills Police Sgt. Randy Bellasic said the incident appeared isolated. There were no other drive-by paintball attacks reported Thursday. Anyone with information about the attack may call Zephyrhills police at (813) 780-0050.
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