Three separate pellet gun attacks have been reported in the past seven days in Guelph.

Police there have made an arrest in one case and continue to investigate the other two attacks.

“We see quite regularly different types of what I would consider replica firearms,” said Guelph Police Service spokesperson Scott Tracey.

He said that instead of traditional pellet guns, there is an increase in Airsoft guns, which fire rubber or plastic pellets.

“It’s hard to distinguish their appearance from real weapons,” Tracey said.

Although they are used recreationally for things like paintball, he said they are seeing an increase over the last couple of years in people carrying and using this type of pellet gun.

On October 30, two women were driving on Woodlawn Road East near Riverside Park when two gunshots passed through their open window, hitting one woman in the head and the other in the cheek. A man who was a passenger in another car was shot in the ear.

Witnesses to this attack describe the suspect as a young man of around 15 years old dressed in black. He was chased to Riverside Park, but was not identified or arrested.

On October 31, several young hitmen were struck in the torso, neck and arms by plastic bullets from an Airsoft gun near Morningcrest Park on Severn Drive. All of the victims reported being approached by a group of 10 men who were all wearing gorilla suits, except one who was wearing a ghillie suit.

On November 8, a Guelph man was charged after firing a pellet gun into a crowd of youths in a downtown parking lot. The group knew the man. Guelph police said in a news release that “the man is currently subject to conditions prohibiting him from associating with any female in the crowd.”

During this attack, one man was hit near the eye and another was hit twice in the back.

Police say no victims of the attacks required medical attention, but Tracey said that doesn’t erase the danger.

For example, he said two women who were struck while driving could have lost control of their vehicle. The man hit in the eye could also have fared much worse.

“The injuries that we saw at least in these recent incidents were not serious in themselves, but they certainly had the potential to cause much more serious injuries,” Tracey said.

It also poses a danger to the gun owner themselves if officers can’t tell whether it’s a real gun or not, he said.

Guelph police continue to search for the attackers last Wednesday and Thursday.