Juvenile shoots 12-year-old girls with 'gel-blaster' rounds in Leander: police

LEANDER, Texas - Police say two 12-year-old girls were injured by a teen suspect who fired ‘gel-blaster’ rounds at them over Memorial Day weekend. The teen is now facing a felony. 

This comes as school is out and kids have more time on their hands.

What we know:

The assault happened on Sunday, May 24 at around 7:47 p.m. in the 600 block of Los Robles Road.

Officers responded to reports that a teen in a car had fired gel-blaster rounds at other kids in the area. 

"They had been struck by what they believed at the time were paintballs," Leander Police Department Lt. Mike Mohler said.

Police say the girls were riding their scooters when a beige sedan drove past and a passenger fired multiple rounds at them from a gel-blaster-style gun.

The passenger was seen sitting on the window frame of the front passenger side and pointing the orange-and-green gun over the roof.

One of the girls was struck on her left cheekbone, just below her eye, and the other was hit in the chest.

What's next:

Police later identified the people in the car. They were all teens. Now, Lt. Mohler said the primary suspect faces a felony injury to a child charge.

"The only reason that it is a felony is that the victim is under the age of 14 and the victim did report an injury," Lt. Mohler said.

What are gel-blaster rounds?

Dig deeper:

Gel-blaster rounds, also known as Gellets, are squishy water-based gel beads that are advertised to burst and disintegrate on impact. 

Gel Blaster, the company behind Gellets, says getting hit by them "feels like getting hit with a rubber band – a quick minor sting."

The rounds must be soaked in water to grow to their full size, about 7 to 8 mm in diameter or about the thickness of your standard #2 pencil, before use. Their use is similar to paintballs.

Leander police are reminding the public that these guns and similar devices can cause injuries and may result in criminal charges when used irresponsibly.

Summer brings an uptick in teen-related crimes

What they're saying:

Summer break is here. For many kids, that means more freedom, more time with friends, and more hours spent outside. Leander police said sometimes, a few seconds of bad decision-making can change a summer instantly.

With school out, officers said they often see an uptick in juvenile-related crimes.

"We see a rise in juvenile-related crime. Yes ma'am, burglar vehicles, criminal mischief, those types of crimes," Lt. Mohler said.

The gun used in this case was a gel blaster, which police said looks similar to a Nerf gun and fires small gel pellets. Officers said the bigger concern is how other people may react.

"People do carry other weapons and moms and dads are out there, and they may think that they're under attack as well. So that's a very serious consequence to consider when kids are thinking about doing this, you know, unprovoked, just, you know, driving around doing kid stuff," Lt. Mohler said.

Police have a reminder; decisions now can have consequences that last long after summer ends.

"This case just kind of highlights that kids need to be thoughtful and considerate of the behavior which they engage. Unfortunately, in this time, a little reckless behavior led to a little bit more of an issue than probably the juveniles involved thought they would get into," Lt. Mohler said.

Lt. Mohler said he encourages parents to talk with their children to think twice about doing something that may get them in trouble.

Crime and Public SafetyLeander