KEY POINTS:
The toll is rising in a spate of airgun shootings in Mt Maunganui.
Twelve people have reported being hit with ballbearing gun pellets in the Bay of Plenty town on Wednesday and police expect the number to rise after reports of the rampage in local media yesterday.
Fran Tomkins, 65, was shot in the left hip while walking along a street, feeling a sharp pain she described as "four times a bee sting".
Mrs Tomkins heard laughter coming from a car. "I thought, 'They have shot something at me'," she said. She memorised the licence plate before calling police.
She was one of eight people who reported being shot between about 10am and 2.30pm on Wednesday, but within an hour of a local newspaper featuring a story yesterday, two more people rang police to say they had been hit. Officers were told a group of tourists were also targeted.
The incidents follow a further six reports of airgun shootings at the Mount since March 1.
Mrs Tomkins was "appalled" to learn of other victims, shuddering to think what might have happened if an elderly person from her mother's nearby rest home had been hit.
Four schoolboys have been arrested in connection to the Wednesday shootings.
The boys, two aged 16 and the others 17, were wagging school when they were arrested.
Mt Maunganui field officer Constable Wayne Lambert said the group had three guns.
"They were really going to town," he said. "They were just basically driving the streets, picking a target, and then three guys would let loose at a person as they drove past."
All victims had suffered welts, mostly on the upper body.
"The guys were aiming at chest level, so people were getting shot in the back, legs, and one guy said he was almost shot in the head."
Mr Lambert said the potential for serious injury with an airgun was real. "It'll take your eye out," he said.
Another victim, who did not want to be named, told the Herald she saw one of the boys back on the street yesterday, again during school hours.
She had been shot while standing outside a shop and said the attack stung and made her "really angry". A postie, a male jogger, a man mowing his lawn, and a couple having coffee at a cafe were among the others hit.
A young man and his grandfather stopped and reported being shot to police as they were apprehending the youths. Armed officers stopped the car in the Bayfair area, using Glock pistols because of the presence of the airguns and pellets.
Mr Lambert said more charges could be laid as victims came forward. He urged victims to contact Mt Maunganui police on (07) 575-3143.
