In Seminole County, Florida, two teenagers are facing charges after authorities allege they used a gel blaster gun to target pedestrians in drive-by assaults.
According to court documents, 18-year-old Bryant Otero Villegas and a 16-year-old accomplice have been apprehended in connection with two separate incidents that took place in Winter Springs and Oviedo.
The first attack occurred on Monday, May 18, 2026. An arrest report obtained by News 6 details how a couple was ambushed while walking along Red Bug Lake Road near Dovera Drive in Oviedo between 8:18 and 8:22 p.m. The pair were hit by projectiles fired from a moving car.
According to the couple, a green car with dark-tinted windows passed by, with the front passenger window rolled down. They reported seeing a red barrel protruding from the window and hearing sounds reminiscent of automatic gunfire. The woman suffered multiple hits on her left side, arm, and back, resulting in visible welts and marks. Witnesses noted that the suspects were reportedly laughing as they fled the scene.
Just two days later, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, police in Winter Springs responded to another similar incident. A woman walking near State Road 434 and Bennett Street reported feeling sudden, sharp pains in her neck. She was hit about three times in quick succession and believed the shots came from a pellet gun. She described the offending vehicle as a green, older-model Toyota Corolla.
Using the Flock License Plate Reader system, investigators were able to locate the suspect vehicle in the parking lot of Winter Springs High School.
On May 22, 2026, officers from the Winter Springs Police Department located the vehicle at the school and conducted a traffic stop after the car failed to stop at a stop sign and was found to have illegal window tint, according to the arrest reports. An officer identified the driver as the 16-year-old co-defendant. They searched the vehicle and found one X-SHOT Gel Blaster (HPG-700) and several gel BB projectiles, the report states.
After being read his Miranda rights, the 16-year-old driver — who is not being named because he is a minor — reportedly admitted that he and Otero Villegas had been driving down Red Bug Lake Road after Ju Jitsu training in Oviedo when they spotted two people walking near the YMCA, Target and Chili’s. The arrest report says he told investigators both of them fired their gel blasters at the couple from the moving car.
The report also says he told investigators that on May 20, Otero Villegas fired at a pedestrian along S.R. 434 near a Planet Fitness shopping center in Winter Springs while he drove. During questioning, the teen asked investigators whether “the girl was OK.”
Detectives with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office went to Otero Villegas’s Casselberry home, where they say he admitted to his role in both incidents and retrieved his gel blaster from his bedroom.
The arrest reports state that both teens turned themselves in to the Winter Springs Police Department last week and are facing battery charges.
News 6 has reported on several warnings from law enforcement in recent years about the “Orbeez Challenge” — which involves shooting water-soaked gel pellets at unsuspecting strangers.
In 2022, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said an Amazon driver and a family near Deltona were struck by Orbeez fired from an airsoft gun. The same year, a 16-year-old in Ocala was also arrested after police say he acted as a getaway driver for two separate Orbeez Challenge attacks.
