Three tourists from Germany damaged signs in Joshua Tree National Park with paintball guns and slingshots. (National Park Services)
Three Tourists from Germany were charged after they defaced traffic signs, restrooms and dumpsters during a paintball rampage throughout Joshua Tree National Park in California, park officials said.
Accordingly a press release According to a report from the National Park Service (NPS), a park ranger patrolling the Jumbo Rocks Campground in Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday noticed “fresh yellow paintball splatters on buildings and signs.”
During further investigation of the paintball splashes, the ranger clearly discovered a slingshot in a vehicle.
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Law enforcement rangers were called to the scene and began questioning the visitors. They were tourists from Germany who admitted to firing paintballs the night before using a compressed paintball gun and slingshots.
In their vehicle, the rangers found three slingshots, a paintball marker, paintballs and other related equipment as evidence.
The rangers also learned that at least 11 traffic signs along Park Boulevard by Jumbo Rocks Campground to the Maze Loop Trailhead, three kilometers from the west entrance of the park, had been shot at with yellow paintballs.
The three people were charged with vandalism, damage or destruction of property.
The violation is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and/or a maximum of six months. in prisonsaid the NPS.
Joshua Tree National Park’s Deputy Chief Ranger Jeff Filosa condemned the vandalism and called it a waste of time for staff who could be doing other tasks instead of cleaning up the vandalism.
“Defacement or alteration of the NPS landscape, no matter how small, is against the law,” Filosa said. “It damages the natural environment enjoyed by millions of people around the world. The park must regularly remove graffiti of all kinds, which takes time and resources that could be better spent on other priorities.”
