Three 17-year-old males have been arrested in relation to two hit-and-run incidents involving a paintball gun.

Whitehorse RCMP said Tuesday afternoon the first incident took place at 4 p.m. Monday in Riverdale.

A nine-year-old girl was walking home from school when individuals in a white hatchback pulled up behind her and shot her with a paintball gun.

The car drove past her and eventually turned around. When it passed her again, it splashed water on her from a rain puddle.

The next incident occurred not long after. The second person was hit with a paintball on Seventh Avenue at Wheeler Street. The suspects were seen leaving in a white hatchback.

The three males were arrested Tuesday evening, police said this morning. Due to their ages, their names cannot be published.

The pending charges have not been finalized, but the trio is facing charges of assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for dangerous purposes.

Abrielle Rix, the nine-year-old girl who was attacked, and her parents, Alison and James Rough, spoke with the Star this morning about the incident.

Alison said her daughter was walking home from school with a friend at the time. Normally, the girl is driven to school by her mother, and her father picks her up.

The friend walked with Rix for most of the journey, but the two children parted ways around Lewes Boulevard. Her daughter was walking on Klondike Road at the time.

James said he remembered asking his daughter if she was sure she wanted to walk home because of Monday’s rain. She said yes, so he approved because she was not walking alone.

Alison said the paintball attack came without warning – and was clearly no accident.

“It was deliberate,” she said.

Rix said the paintball hurt when it hit her. It shoved her slightly, but did not knock her down.

“It pushed me a little but I was OK,” the girl told the Star.

She said the incident made her feel both mad and sad at the same time.

The hatchback’s occupants laughed at her afterwards, which hurt, she said.

She added she would recognize them if she saw them again. She did not see the paintball gun nor the vehicle’s licence plate.

As for being splashed, she said it soaked her a little, and it was cold that day. Her parents estimated she was about halfway home when she was attacked.

Rix did not need medical attention, but she was left with a bruise on her right upper arm. She said it doesn’t hurt to move it, but it is sensitive.

The orange paintball left a small hole in Rix’s orange tiger shirt, which was not ruined.

James said he was enraged when he found out. He explained he was watching a funny video his wife shared when his son knocked on the door to tell him what happened.

His son said his sister had been shot. There was a pause before he clarified a paintball gun had been involved.

“In that pause, my heart skipped,” James said.

He ran out to see his daughter, who told him what happened. He told her to get into their van, and they went out to look for the suspect vehicle.

He ran into his sister at Riverdale Super A. He told her what happened and to keep an eye out for the white hatchback.

They went back home. He called Alison multiple times at work. She missed many of these calls, but he eventually reached her.

He said he informed her of the incident in the same way his son did.

After that, he called the RCMP and provided all the details he could. The police arrived 10 minutes later, and Rix gave them a statement.

Alison said she felt the police took the incident seriously.

“They (police) were right on the ball,” James agreed.

Rix joked that her dad told her the police may look big and scary, but inside, they’re big teddy bears.

Both her mother and father have been scanning the Internet since the incident, looking for more information. Both question what kind of human being would do this to a nine-year-old, and find it funny enough to laugh at her.

Alison was born and raised in Whitehorse, and this incident comes as a shock to her. People didn’t have to worry about this kind of thing in the past, she pointed out.

James said he is happy that police have made arrests and that the culprits “get what’s coming to them.”

Both parents are now hesitant to let their daughter walk home from school.

James said the odds are it won’t happen again, but it will always be something in the back of his mind now.

Alison added that Rix did not walk home Tuesday, and doesn’t think she will for a while. The girl has not missed school as a result of the attack.

The Roughs have not spoken with the other victim. Alison said she is interested to see how that person is doing.

Police are asking anyone with information on this case to call them at 667-5555.