STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A string of paintball gun attacks on Staten Island over the weekend have some residents afraid to walk outside, victims and police told the Advance.

Renee Mafaro, 45, of Westerleigh, posted this photo on Facebook of a welt on her leg she says she suffered after she was shot by a paintball gun in Westerleigh. (Photo courtesy Renee Mafaro)

At least two pedestrians reported they were shot with a paintball gun on Saturday night in separate incidents that happened between 10 and 11 p.m., an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Renee Mafaro, 45, of Westerleigh, says she was walking her brother's Yorkie on Collifield Avenue at around 10:30 p.m. when a dark-colored SUV with 4 people inside pulled up next to her with the windows opened.

A man in the passenger seat pulled out a paintball gun and fired off 5 or 6 pellets, striking Mafaro in her right upper thigh, she said.

"I thought I was getting killed when I saw that gun. My heart stopped -- it was horrifying," Mafaro said, noting that the shooter appeared to be aiming for the dog.

"I turned away to grab the dog and he got the back of my thigh," said Mafaro, who was left with a painful welt.

"If that would have hit the dog it would have killed the dog," she added.

The attack left Mafaro afraid to step outside of her house.

"It traumatized me," she said.

Earlier that same night, at around 10 p.m., a 41-year-old man was reportedly shot with a paintball gun while riding his bike on Adelaide Avenue in Oakwood, police said.

Similar to the other incident, a dark-colored SUV stopped at the crosswalk as a person in the back seat fired off a paintball gun at the bicyclist.

The victim was struck in the left ear, but did not sustain any serious injuries, police said.

Several other people have posted on social media about similar attacks from over the weekend, but police currently only have reports on these two incidents, as well as another attack that occurred on Friday.

In the attack on Friday, an Orthodox Jewish man was shot with a paintball gun while walking with his family in Meiers Corners, police said.

Cops say that a person in a grey GMC Envoy fired a paintball gun at the 67-year-old victim, hitting him in his right shoulder as he walked on Westwood Avenue with his wife and 23-year-old son.

Police are currently investigating each attack separately, and could not immediately say if the incidents are connected, the NYPD spokeswoman said.