Man fires shotgun at teens who pelted truck with water balloons, California cops say

Two teenage boys who pelted a parked pickup truck with water balloons were greeted with a shotgun blast from the 63-year-old man inside, California police said.

Mark Shell of Ridgecrest, California, had been sleeping inside his pickup truck when the teens hurled water balloons at it from a passing truck late Friday, Dec. 4, police said in a news release.

When Shell got out to investigate, he saw the teens coming back in their pickup and retrieved a 12-gauge shotgun from his truck, police said. He shot the door of the passing truck with the shotgun, with the driver sustaining minor injuries.

The two teens, ages 17 and 18, drove to the hospital for treatment, where police were notified about 10:50 p.m., the release said.

Officers searched for Shell, who had driven away, and found him a few hours later stopped elsewhere in town, police said. He was arrested without incident.

Shell faces charges including attempted murder, assault with a firearm, firing at an occupied vehicle and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, police said.

This story was originally published December 7, 2021 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Man fires shotgun at teens who pelted truck with water balloons, California cops say."