Four Jacksonville firefighters have been reassigned following their arrest on misdemeanor charges after a police car and an unrelated civilian vehicle were struck by paintballs near a downtown fire station.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office charged each of them with criminal mischief, saying its investigation showed the two cars were pelted with paintballs Dec. 29 during an alleged “prank war” involving the firefighters.
The investigation also showed paintballs struck an abandoned building as well as traffic signs, the roadway and a dumpster near Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Station 4, at 639 W. Duval St. at West Jefferson Street in LaVilla, the Sheriff’s Office said.
JSO announced the arrest and summarized the investigation in a mid-afternoon Jan. 23 news release and post on the agency’s Facebook page.
The Times-Union is not naming the four JFRD employees due to the charges being misdemeanors, and the fact that no one was hurt.
All four have been “assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of a JFRD internal investigation,” the fire and rescue department said in a Jan. 23 statement posted on Facebook.
JFRD described the incident as “personnel misconduct while on duty.” The department also said the arrests won’t interfere with the station operations.
“This incident will have no impact on public safety or JFRD operations. The station where this occurred remains fully staffed with qualified personnel,” JFRD posted.
What JSO says happened
The Sheriff’s Office’s news release summarized the circumstances leading to the arrests as follows:
On Dec. 29, an officer was driving a marked patrol car near North Jefferson and West Duval streets when he “noticed multiple impacts” on the vehicle. He discovered several green paint splatters on the patrol car. A civilian driver also said his car had been struck similarly, according to the JSO news release.
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Responding officers saw multiple green paint splatters on the roadway. They believed the splatters resulted from paintballs that came from “a high-velocity launcher at an elevated location.”
Paint was also found on an I-95 traffic sign, a “One-Way” sign, a dumpster, and an abandoned structure, police said.
The officers saw firefighters quickly enter the nearby fire station and close the bay doors.
“When interviewed, firefighters noted that there was an ongoing prank war between fire stations, which may have been the source of the incident,” JSO said.
Further investigation “revealed 14 red and green paintballs on the roof of the fire station, as well as used paintball shells in the station’s driveway, which appeared to have been recently washed,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Heavily redacted arrest reports for the firefighters stated that an inexpensive, single-shot paintball gun had been a gift in a holiday “White Elephant” gift exchange.
Several firefighters were playing with the paintball gun inside and outside the fire station, including shooting at signs. When the paintball gun broke after about 10-15 shots, firefighters began throwing paintballs at each other, according to the arrest reports.
“After consultation with the State Attorney’s Office and a review of the facts of this incident, it was determined that the actions of the individuals involved met the elements for the offense of criminal mischief,” the arrest reports stated.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville firefighters arrested after paintball ‘prank war’