TOLEDO, Ohio — MarCatey Blackford was home when her son RJ Horton came to the house on Thursday, crying and covered in welts from BB gun pellets.
"I'm like 'what happened?'" Blackford said. "He said 'they shot me, they shot me'. I'm like 'who shot you?'"
Horton said he was outside the West Toledo Branch Library when three teenage boys ambushed him with BB guns. Horton said he was the most terrified he could be.
"On a scale of 1 to 100. Had to be 100," Horton said.
Surveillance video shared with WTOL 11 shows the kids approaching Horton, who tries to pedal away on his bike. Horton said he's not sure who the kids are that shot him, only that they were teenagers wearing ski masks.
"I don't know their names or anything," Horton said. "I just know [of] them 'cause they come down here to the library."
Blackford said she spoke with other parents in the neighborhood who shared similar experiences with kids being shot by gel bead guns.
"So many parents came out with how their kids were attacked," Blackford said. "They're just as young as him, and sometimes even younger."
Blackford said the beads that hit Horton were frozen Orbeez. It's a technique people use to cause more pain for the people being shot, something Blackford said makes the rounds on TikTok.
"So pretty much, the Orbeez feel like bullets. They're hard," Blackford said.
Blackford filed a police report with Toledo Police Department but is worried they won't find the kids behind this.
"I don't expect the kids to go to jail, but I expect something to be done," Blackford said.
If you have any information that may help police find the individuals responsible for the assault, call or text Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111. You can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.