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4 Bliss soldiers held in BB gun shootings

EL PASO, Texas — Four Fort Bliss soldiers have been arrested on felony charges after a recent BB gun shooting spree in which one man was wounded in El Paso.

Police made the arrests Friday, a week after residents reported that vandals had been driving around shooting at residential windows, vehicles and at least at one person.

Ruben Dario Hernandez, Jr., 20; Garrett Robert Moody, 19; Zachary Cole Folsom, 17; and Kelly Carlson, 19, were taken into custody on post in cooperation with Fort Bliss authorities, El Paso police spokesman Javier Sambrano said.

Each soldier faces a first-degree felony charge of engaging in organized criminal activity-aggravated assault with a deadly weapon since they allegedly worked together to shoot a man with the BB gun, Sambrano told the El Paso Times for its Saturday editions.

A jail official said that all four remained in jail Saturday. Bond was set at $60,000 for Hernandez and Moody and at $45,000 for Folsom and Carlson, but all four were on a military hold, which means once they make bond they will be turned over to military authorities. It was not immediately clear if the four had attorneys.

“Apparently, from the investigation, they all had gone to a Wal-Mart and purchased the BB handgun and basically did a series of shootings, which took place on two separate days,” Sambrano said.

On Sept. 25, a 43-year-old man was shot multiple times in the torso and near an eye. Police said the man was taken to a local hospital because a BB was wedged near his eye.

Fort Bliss spokeswoman Jean Offutt said Saturday that any sort of action taken by the military would take place after the conclusion of the charges by police.