Pokémon Go Players Targeted by Pellet Gun, Car in Two Separate Incidents: Police

These two arrests add to a string of incidents related to the enormously popular game

Photo: Penobscot County Sheriff's Office

A Maine woman was accused Sunday night of intentionally hitting a pedestrian, who was playing Pokémon Go, with her car, the Bangor Daily News reports. Her arrest came one day after an Ontario woman allegedly shot at a group of Pokémon players with a pellet gun from the roof of her apartment building, Canadian authorities tell PEOPLE.

The two cases add to a string of injuries, robberies, arrests and other incidents connected to the enormously popular mobile app (whose many unharmed users, indeed, dwarf the number of these cases).

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Canadian Arrest

York Regional Police on Saturday night arrested Patricia Champagne, 29, after witnesses reported seeing her fire on them from the roof of her apartment, as they played Pokémon, according to a news release. Champagne, of Newmarket, was arrested at her apartment without incident and a pellet gun was seized, according to the release.

She was charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, according to the release.

Police say she allegedly fired at least four times on the players below her, who were not injured. The players immediately took cover and called 911, York Regional Police Constable Andy Pattenden tells PEOPLE. He says it appears she fired on the group because they were playing the game, and that there was no connection between the suspects and victim.

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Pattenden says Champagne made bail following her arrest and will next appear in court on Aug. 26. He says she has not entered a plea to her charges. It was not immediately clear if she has retained an attorney.

He says this is the area’s first reported Pokémon Go-related crime.

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Maine Arrest

A Bangor woman was accused Sunday night of striking a 37-year-old male pedestrian with her car, while he was crossing the street playing Pokémon Go, according to the Daily News.

Jeannie Chapman, 36, was subsequently arrested and charged with aggravated assault and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, according to the Daily News. The pedestrian was treated at the scene and released at his own request, police said, according to the paper.

A witness said he saw a woman stop her car short of the crosswalk that day before engaging in an altercation with the victim, according to the Daily News.

“She said, ‘Do you want to get hit?’ Then the guy yelled something back that I didn’t catch,” Adam Spanks said, according to the paper. “The woman backed up a good 20 feet or so, sped forward and hit him and sped off up the hill.”

“The man went up and over the car, and it looked like he hit his head or shoulder or something,” Spanks said.

According to the paper, the victim told police that Chapman allegedly honked at him as he crossed the street in a group, saying, “Can you [expletive] go, or do you want me to run you over?”

It was not immediately clear if Chapman had been released from jail, had entered a plea to her charges or retained an attorney.

These cases are not the first crimes related to Pokémon Go, as authorities have reported robberies and assaults, among other incidents, across the nation.

As Toledo Police Department Lt. Joe Herrnan told PEOPLE recently, “This is the first time I can recall in my 20-year career that a game has created this kind of impact on law enforcement.”