"It hits you, it breaks, and you're out," explains Rick Walters. "You know when you're hit, you feel it."

The paintballs are propelled from the gun by a small tank of carbon dioxide at a whopping rate of 300 feet per second.

But for an Olympia teenager, it wasn't the speed of the paintballs, but rather a sudden malfunction in the gun's tank that proved deadly.

Deadly Accident

Benita Johnson lost her son Brandon, 15, in a terrible accident.

"You can lose something you love in the blink of an eye," she says.

The budding baseball star begged his mother for a paintball gun last year.

"Though I didn't want to get it for him, it was his birthday and he'd received money for his birthday and he got it."

Benita had heard of eye injuries and bruises from paintballs but she never dreamed the game could be fatal.

"It was just one of those things that happened so fast we didn't know what it was," remembers Greg Kessel.

Brandon spent his final hours at his baseball coach's house.

After a backyard game of paintball, coach Kessel stood just inches away as Brandon removed the CO2 canister from his gun.

"I just heard this loud noise, and as I turned to see what it was, I felt Brandon brush my side and then he ended up laying on the ground," he says.

Without warning the cannister rocketed off the gun like a missile. It hit Brandon square in the forehead.

Brandon died five days later. "He was my baby boy, to me he was perfect," says his mother. "He was just a good kid. He was my best friend."

More Than One Deadly Accident

In Sacramento, California, Mark Contois lost this wife, Colette. "I heard a bang, or a pop, and almost immediately Colette's head hit my shoulder, and I knew instantly she was gone," he remembers.

They were at a paintball party for their son when an exploding canister hit Colette in the back of the head.

In both deaths the brass valve came unscrewed as the players removed the tanks from the guns. That simple move turned the pressurized canisters into lethal projectiles.

Check For Tampered Tanks

Shop owner Rick Walters says it's extremely rare for a valve to separate from the tank.

"This sport is safer than golf," he says.

Walters suspects someone replaced the valves on the deadly tanks and failed to seal them with the proper adhesive.

Players buying used tanks should look for signs of tampering. "If they see a tank with plier marks on it, scratches on it, they should question it," Walters cautions.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating the fatal accidents. They've warned the public and agency engineers are now trying to determine why the brass valve separates from the tank.

Fighting For Her Son

Benita Johnson is suing the tank manufacturer for suspected design flaws. "It's important that nobody else gets hurt," she says.

Johnson is also demanding tighter regulations on the industry.

"It's important to me because this is my last fight for my son, and I want it to be a good fight."