Black Ops Paintball & Airsoft Suffers Robbery and Fire
posted by Jacqueline Leibman | April 4, 2022 | In NewsOn March 24, WTVD reported thieves stealing nearly $21,000 in charity donations and merchandise during a break-in at Black Ops Paintball & Airsoft. Five days later, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the possibility of arson, as a fire broke out at the same location early Tuesday morning, as also reported by WTVD.
Black Ops Paintball & Airsoft is a veteran-owned business with locations here in Fayetteville, Myrtle Beach, S.C. and a new location opening in Olympia, Wash. The donations were for AIM Athletic Foundation, a charity and special interest service organization that provides team-building events for wounded veterans, the underprivileged, and those suffering from injury and disease, such as cancer.
According to WTVD, the thieves looted the business, stealing “more than $20,000 worth of paintball guns, all the cash in the register,” as well as the $1,000 donation raised for the charity event.
“The first thing I noticed was the cash register on the floor and that was definitely out of place,” retired combat veteran and Black Ops Paintball general manager John Maninga told WTVD. “It’s disheartening when someone comes into your home or business and they take something that isn’t theirs.”
At 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday, the Fayetteville and Eastover Fire Departments were called to the business. A source told WTVD that “the fire likely started near the front of the building by the cash registers.”
The Greater Fayetteville Business Journal stated the fire has been “classified as an electrical fire.”
However, after seven hours onsite, WTVD reporter DeJuan Hoggard tweeted that “arson investigators with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office say the cause of this morning’s fire at Black Ops Paintball is undetermined.”
The business remains open and will continue offering services to the public.
“We have another building on the other side of the property that still has power and everything we need where we can run airsoft,” Nate Gienger, owner of Black Ops Paintball told the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal.
It was also stated that there are plans for the affected building to undergo repairs—an engineer and builder have already visited the site to assess the damage and will begin construction as soon as possible.
Photo courtesy of the Fayetteville Fire Department.
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