OAKLAND -- A shooter firing paintballs from a car hit at least nine people, including a 13-year-old boy and a dog, during a more than one-hour shooting spree Saturday afternoon in East Oakland, police said.

Only the 13-year-old was injured badly enough to require medical care, police said, adding there could be more victims.

After a poice pursuit, Lajai Pridgett, 21, of Elk Grove was arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, evading police and violating probation. He had been paroled from prison just last week after serving time for a narcotics conviction, police said.

He declined to talk to the investigators, Sgt. Caesar Basa and Officer Steve Nowak.

Nowak said Sunday it was lucky no one was more seriously injured. He said an Oakland officer once lost an eye from a paintball shot during a training exercise.

"Those wounds can be fatal if they are fired from a short distance and hit someone in the wrong place," Nowak said.

A 16-year-old girl who is being raised by Pridgett's parents was in the car with him during the police pursuit and kept asking him to stop, Basa said. She was not with him during the shootings and

after questioning she was released to relatives, Basa said.

The series of stinging, painful shootings began about 4:15 p.m. when a man was shot in the chest in the 4000 block of East 18th Street.

About 5 minutes later, in the 4100 block of Foothill Boulevard, a 19-year-old man and his 25-year-old brother-in-law were each shot in the upper body.

At about 4:30 p.m., a

63-year-old gardener and his

42-year-old co-worker were both hit while doing yard work in the 5200 block of Foothill Boulevard. The older man was shot in the neck and back, and the younger man was hit in the back.

Five minutes later, a 13-year-old boy walking with his mother and sister near his home in the 5100 block of Bancroft Avenue was hit in the back of the head. His mother and sister were not hurt, but the boy had to be treated by paramedics.

Sometime later, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg in the 200 block of Rosedale Avenue. A dog also was hit, police said.

Police said a neighbor reported seeing a mailman on the street get hit four times in the back, but the mailman could not be located.

At about 5:30 p.m., a

58-year-old man was hit in the upper thigh while outside his house in the 4600 block of Melrose Avenue. The house was hit seven times as well.

Some of the victims were able to give police a description of the shooter's 1990 Buick.

Motorcycle Officer Dan Royal saw a car matching witnesses' descriptions about 5:50 p.m. at 48th Avenue and International Boulevard. It stopped briefly in the 4300 block of East 12th Street before speeding off with officers in pursuit.

Pridgett finally stopped the car in the 1100 block of 79th Avenue, where he and the girl both jumped out and started running. The paintball gun was found in the trunk.

Pridgett was arrested in the 1200 block of 78th Avenue, where Officer Jason Sena found him hiding under a porch. The girl, who had been picked up by Pridgett before police spotted the car, ran through a house on 79th Avenue before being arrested.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at

238-3326.

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