What should’ve been a harmless, free-for-all $30,000 Lady Bird Lake scavenger hunt in Austin turned into an actual crime scenario after Kick streamer Amaris “XenaTheWitch” Sampson allegedly shot an innocent person in the thigh with a paintball gun. Yep, you read that correctly: the 29-year-old social media personality confused an onlooker with a participant, pulled the trigger, and found himself cuffed.
Police verified the altercation took place sometime about 5:55 p.m. on August 9th along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail. Sampson was booked into Travis County Jail as of Wednesday and now stands charged with two Class A misdemeanors: assault with bodily injury and deadly conduct. If convicted, she would face up to seven years in jail for a paintball splat.
The Viral Video That Got Her Arrested
The entire incident has been live-streamed and has gone viral since. During the course of the montage, pandemonium broke out:
“Adriana! That’s a live worker you nearly killed.”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s a work!”
“I don’t give a f***.”
Seconds later, one can hear the injured bystander utter:
“Yes, she f***** shot me. It was one of those girls.”
As opposed to apologizing or even stopping, Sampson purportedly uttered more defiantly: “I don’t give a f**.”
A Pattern of Recklessness
If you are one who is used to XenaTheWitch’s antics, this is far from breaking news. Her streaming career has been controversial:
Her cameraman was accused in January of taking an Uber driver’s phone while live on stream and tossing it under the driver’s car.
She stunned everybody in November of 2023 by pissing out of her bedroom window on camera, yes, for views.
So the paintball debacle appears more like a predictable overextension of a streamer attempting to outdo herself from her previous prank instead of an accident.
Community Reaction and Fallout
The streaming community is split. Some are running to her defense, labeling it a “misunderstanding in the course of an event,” while others are saying shooting unarmed civilians in public is not “content,” it’s against the law. The victim reportedly told police that she had been injured and in agony, and APD was extremely adamant that Sampson’s actions were reckless and endangered others in the park. Salt in the wound, the event was even hosted by fellow streamer Paul “Ice Poseidon” Denino, who is himself known for controversy. The scavenger hunt was set up as wild and high-stakes fun, but the “stakes” ended up being a police record.
