A mother said her 2-year-old was pelted nine times with paintballs while they were outside their west Charlotte home.
The 2-year-old had marks all over her body after someone shot paint at her.
Paintball wars have been gaining national traction since the beginning of the year.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said it has received more than 150 calls since the beginning of the year involving complaints about paintball gun.
The mother, who didn't want to be identified, said it was a traumatizing moment for her and her daughter.
"She was screaming so bad. She said, 'Mommy, help me. Mommy, help me,’” she said. “That killed me. When I saw her with paint all over her shirt and her pants, my heart dropped."
The mother said she found welts on her daughter’s chest, back, knees and legs.
The mother told Channel 9 that a group of men were shooting each other on her property earlier this past week.
“I heard one of them say that's their way to, instead of attacking themselves with guns, they're going to do it like that because that's how they get the anger out of them,” the mother said.
The mother said she's not against people using paintball guns to settle their differences, but it shouldn’t jeopardize anyone else's safety.
She filed a police report and days later, she said her car was hit twice with paintballs.
The police department investigated the incident and arrested 17-year-old Keon Jaquez Broughton, who is facing charges for causing a disturbance, assaulting a child and resisting an officer.
The number of complaints the police department has received involving paintball guns is growing.
Meanwhile, local paintball gun stores are seeing a rise in sales.
David Veldof, who owns a paintball gun store, believes some people are having a good time at the wrong place.
He's educating customers on smarter options, including regulated fields.
"Over the past three to four weeks, we've had a substantial increase in sales,” Veldof said. "And believe it or not, a lot of people have been going to these fields and staying off these streets."
The mother said her 2-year-old has been seeing a counselor to get over the fear of being outside she developed since the paintball incident.
The mother hopes a city ordinance is created to help curb the paintball incidents.
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