KEY POINTS:
A 17-year-old Auckland girl has been left injured and traumatised after being shot in the face with a paintball gun fired from a vehicle in Mt
Maunganui.
Police have condemned the drive-by shooting as "a random act of violence" and are appealing for help to find a distinctive modified Subaru vehicle captured on closed-circuit television fleeing the area.
They said a man in the emerald green Forester with body-kit modification had taken three shots at the girl's head, one of which hit her in the face.
The impact caused her lip to swell and split, and Constable Todd Hilleard said she could easily have been more seriously hurt.
"It could've gone into her eye or worse," he said. "She wants it resolved because she doesn't want it happening to anybody else."
He said police were also anxious to catch the offender, who was the front-seat passenger in the vehicle, before he tried the prank again.
The shooting happened on Saturday afternoon while the girl was standing with a group of friends on the corner of the Mount's main street, Maunganui Rd, and Banks Ave.
The Subaru Forester stopped briefly at the intersection before the man fired the shots at 12.50pm.
He was said to be aged about 20, with olive skin and scruffy brown hair, and was wearing a black hat and dark glasses.
CCTV footage showed the vehicle entering the busy shopping area at 12.15pm and then fleeing south along Maunganui Rd.
It was driven by a woman, also believed to be about 20 and with long blond hair. She was wearing a white singlet and dark glasses.
Mr Hilleard appealed for information about the pair and for sightings of their vehicle, which he said was in good condition and had a silver trim along the bottom half where a body kit had been installed.
The Forester also had a sunroof and heavily tinted windows, and witnesses described seeing a dent on the driver's side near the back panel.
The victim did not want to be identified last night, but Mr Hilleard said she had decided to continue her holiday at the Mount, despite feeling very upset about what had happened.
"It's traumatised her because she can't believe that someone has randomly gone and shot paintballs at her."
Similar incidents involving paintballs and slug guns have been reported at Mt Maunganui in the past.
