A TEENAGE student was hit in the eye by a pellet from a paintball gun as he walked home from a night out.

The 19-year-old man was temporarily blinded in his left eye when a group of young people in a car fired the pellet gun at him several times as he walked home near the dairy in Knight Road, Strood. He first felt a tingling sensation in his lower leg and realised he had been hit with a paintball pellet.

He noticed a small black car driving towards Darnley Road and about 30 minutes later the same car returned and stopped alongside the victim to speak to him. At least five more shots were fired by the front and rear seat passengers, hitting the victim in his left eye, face and left shoulder and leaving him needing hospital treatment.

The car drove off along Knight Road towards the one-way system in Strood after the attack at about 2.15am on Saturday.

The driver of the vehicle was a white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, in her late teens and of small build. The front seat passenger was a white man with a skinhead haircut and wearing a purple hooded top. He was clean shaven and aged about 17 or 18.

The back seat passenger was a white man, slightly younger than the other man. He was also clean shaven and wearing a purple hooded top.

The gun is described as having transparent barrels about 55cm long, loaded with pink coloured balls containing white paint.

PC Kate Sheehan said: "I would urge anyone who witnessed this particularly nasty attack to come forward and to contact the police.

All calls will be treated in the strictest of confidence."

Anyone with any information should telephone Medway Police on 01634 884252 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.