WATCH: Campus clash as nearby residents steal paintball gun and hold ‘scammers’ to ransom

A group of young, disgruntled customers stole a paintball gun from a stall on City’s Northampton Square campus yesterday after claiming a salesman had sold them fake paintballing tickets.

Over a dozen people, thought to be residents of a nearby estate, surrounded the two salesmen working at the time and threw their paintball gun into a tree.

They then refused to return the unloaded weapon unless they were refunded.

One member of the group told The Square: “We came here a couple of days ago and he scammed us off for £40.”

A video of the altercation shows one of the youths, who had shaken the tree behind him to retrieve the weapon, scaling the fence next to the university’s main entrance after handing the stolen paintball gun to a friend.

Towards the end of the video one group member can be seen posing with the gun.

Negotiations between the group and stall runners, who have been offering paintballing experiences on campus for the last month, lasted for several minutes.

The situation was resolved when one salesmen went to the ATM, escorted by some of the group, and withdrew the money.

The salesman who had sold the tickets the previous day was not working at the time of the incident. One of the employees at the scene said: “The guy who was working the other day is gonna have a bad time.”

George, a City University student who was present while the dispute took place said: “Some kids from the nearby estates just took the law in their hands. It was funny to watch the guys from the paintball stand get bullied by a dozen of hood kids.”