On February 16, 2004, the day of her death, Colette Contois was enjoying the celebration of her son, Caleb’s, tenth birthday.  The party was held at a paintball field in a remote area of Swansboro, California.  At the end of the day, the children who had participated in the paintball activities were disassembling their guns in an area provided by the paintball facility.  The equipment had not been inspected by the supervising facility.  The CO2 cylinder from one of the paintball guns was unscrewed by a minor, who unwittingly detached the cylinder valve from the cylinder rather than from the paintball gun as he intended, thereby turning it into a lethal rocket.  As she stood by her husband and son, Colette Contois was struck in the back of the head by the CO2 cylinder traveling at an extremely high velocity.  The injuries inflicted by the cylinder were fatal.

      On June 7, 2003, 15-year-old Brandon Johnson was using his paintball gun for the first time having owned it for only three days.  Brandon and a group of five friends descended into the back woods near a friend’s home in Olympia, Washington.  Each of the boys wore proper safety equipment which included head, eye and ear protection along with gloves and body pads.  The paintball game concluded after two hours without incident.

     Brandon and his friends returned to the front porch of the home and began removing the C02 cylinders from their paintball guns.  Prior to removing the C02 cylinder, Brandon removed his head and eye protection.  As he began to unscrew the C02 cylinder, it detached from the valve while still under pressure striking him with significant force in the forehead.  The cylinder was expelled with such high velocity and force that after it struck Brandon, it continued to propel and was never found.  On June 12, 2003, Brandon Johnson died from the injuries inflicted by the C02 cylinder.