ORLANDO, Fla. – Joe Dodd still has a mark on the left side of his ribs where was hit by a paintball on Saturday.
Dodd was leaving work at Savoy, a gay nightclub, around 1:15 a.m. when it happened.
"On the way to my car, some dark sedan drove by and I heard like, ‘Pop, pop, pop,’ outside of the sedan and I got hit on the side. It stung pretty bad for a little bit," Dodd said.
At first, he didn't read too much into the incident and thought it wad just been kids, but after reading about similar incidents at Lake Eola, he thought there may be more behind the actions of whoever shot at him.
Another victim, who wished to remain anonymous, was hit in the leg by a paintball around the same time while he was playing "Pokemon Go" at Lake Eola.
In addition to shooting at him and his friends, the people in a car also shouted homophobic slurs, the victim said.
"I had a shirt on that had the Spice Girls on it, so it wasn't the most masculine shirt to be wearing, but for them to scream (a homophobic slur) out the window and then shoot -- that's not appropriate," the victim said.
Orlando police are looking into these cases and are checking for surveillance video that may help find the perpetrators.
The victims are hoping word of mouth will help narrow down who shot at them.
"Stupid people like to brag about things that they do so they have told somebody. They have bragged about shooting people to one of their friends. They have told their girlfriends. They have told somebody," the anonymous victim said.