Two Seminole County teenagers are facing charges after allegedly driving around and shooting passersby with a gel blaster gun.
Bryant Otero Villegas, 18, and a 16-year-old boy were detained after investigators connected them to two separate shooting incidents in Winter Springs and Oviedo, according to court documents.
The first occurrence occurred on Monday, May 18, 2026. According to an arrest report obtained by News 6, a woman and her husband were walking westbound on the sidewalk along Red Bug Lake Road near Dovera Drive in Oviedo, between approximately 8:18 and 8:22 p.m., when they were struck by projectiles fired from a passing vehicle.
The couple reported seeing a green automobile with dark-tinted windows driving westbound. The front passenger window was down, and a red barrel was sticking out. They heard what they identified as automatic gunfire. The female victim was struck multiple times on her left side, arm, and back, leaving visible welts and marks. Investigators claim the suspects were laughing as they drove away.
Two days later, on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, Winter Springs police officers responded to a similar occurrence near State Road 434 and Bennett Street. According to the arrest record for that case, a woman was traveling westbound on the north sidewalk of S.R. 434 when she felt intense sensations in the back of her neck and was struck three times in quick succession. She informed investigators that she felt she had been shot with a pellet pistol and identified the suspect car as a green, older-model Toyota Corolla.
Using the Flock License Plate Reader technology, investigators tracked down the automobile and found it in the Winter Springs High School parking lot.
According to arrest files, police from the Winter Springs Police Department discovered the vehicle at the school on May 22, 2026, and performed a traffic check when it failed to stop at a stop sign and was discovered to have illegal window tint. An officer identified the driver as the 16-year-old co-defendant. The report adds that they discovered one X-SHOT Gel Blaster (HPG-700) and multiple gel BB bullets in the car.
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 jiu-jitsu training in Oviedo when they spotted two people walking near the YMCA, Target, and Chili’s. According to the arrest report, he told authorities that they both shot gel blasters at the couple from a moving car.
According to the complaint, Otero Villegas informed detectives that on May 20, he fired at a pedestrian on S.R. 434 near a Planet Fitness shopping facility in Winter Springs while driving. During questioning, the teen asked investigators whether “the girl was OK.”
Detectives from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office went to Otero Villegas’ Casselberry house, where he allegedly acknowledged his involvement in both events 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.
Law enforcement has issued repeated warnings about the “Orbeez Challenge” in recent years, which involves blasting water-soaked gel pellets at unsuspecting bystanders.
In 2022, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office said that Orbeez discharged an airsoft gun at an Amazon driver and a family near Deltona. 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.
Leave a Reply