After 10 years of hosting experts and newcomers, the owner of a paintball operation near Truro, N.S. says thieves have delivered a devastating blow to his business.
Steve Richardson says he was shocked earlier his week when he realized that 19 masks, 20 air tanks and 20 paintball guns were missing from a locked storage shed at Armymans Paintball.
He says thieves broke into the shed sometime over the winter and stole roughly $7,000 worth of equipment, and he’ll have to close because of it.
“It’s gonna mean I’m done. I can’t open,” says Richardson. “I can’t do any rentals without that.”
Richardson says he hasn’t checked the shed since January so he’s not sure when the items were stolen. He thought his business was safe due to the amount of snow that has fallen over the last two months.
“Just because of the depth of the snow here, I just figured nobody would be, have any chance of being down there,” he says.
Paintball enthusiast Tyler Fields says the closure of Armymans Paintball will be a big loss for the sport.
“It’s just awful because it takes away the opportunity for people in mainland Nova Scotia to really get a chance to learn the sport and experience it,” says Fields.
“It’s sort of taken me off right now. It’s really hit me bad,” says Richardson.
Richardson says he will be able to host a professional paintball event this summer because the players will have their own equipment, but unless his gear is returned, he won’t be able to open the business for others.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
