Two teens arrested in Arlington BB gun shootings

ARLINGTON, Texas - A school teacher was another victim shot by young men using a BB gun who were targeting people at random.

Arlington police released pictures of the gun found during the arrests and say they put their own lives in jeopardy by their stupidity.

Joan Smith, a 53-year-old private school teacher, described what she felt the moment someone inside a car shot her twice with a BB gun, one of them lodging into her back.

“It's kind of scary,” she said. “I could've been dead or paralyzed.”

Smith was one of seven victims targeted within a very short distance in Arlington this week. Two 18-year-olds were arrested for the crimes.

Police have not released the suspects’ mugshots since detectives are doing a photo lineup to see if they can link the suspects to all seven shootings.

Smith says she still can't seem to wash away the memories of Tuesday afternoon.

“I didn't sleep very well last night because all I could hear was the pop pop and the laughter,” she said. “And every time I close my eyes, it's what I hear.”

The random shooting spree covered a one-mile radius in the city of Arlington over 24 hours.

Smith says she was finishing up a nine-mile walk along Green Oaks Boulevard when someone in a dark green sedan shot her in the buttocks and back with a BB gun. One BB narrowly missed her spine.

“It’s life-altering,” she said. “That could've been a real bullet.”

Shortly after Smith was shot, Arlington police caught who they believe to be the suspects, identified as Nicholas Coffman and Jaime Griffin, both 18-years-old. Police say, at that point, the men were firing at bicyclists.

It was inside the dark green sedan that police say they found a stun gun and two hand-held BB guns that cops say look like the real deal.

“At first glance, it looks real,” said Arlington Police Sgt. Vanessa Harrison. “You have no way of not knowing this gun is not real. And if you draw a comparison to the gun that is holstered, they look very similar.”

“I would want to know if that happened to their mother, how would they react,” Smith said. “And why is it ok to do this to someone and laugh about it, but you're not going to stick around to see the end results.”

Smith says her doctors are leaving the BB in her back, saying it would do her more harm to try and remove it.

“Yeah, that's pretty rough,” she admitted. “God still got a plan for me. I just don't know.”

Both men are charged with assault causing bodily injury.