Two young Atlanta men said they were shocked when a man jumped out of a tree and attacked them while they were spray-painting a wall.

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Joshua Ward, 19 and Jesse Jaeger, 21, were spray-painting graffiti on a wall early Sunday when Rodney Bowman, 43, leaped down from a tree and punched Ward in the face two times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

"This guy just jumps out of a tree. I was like, 'Did that just happen?' It's one of those things that, when you tell people, they don't believe you," Jaeger said.

Bowman said he was hiding in the tree waiting to catch whoever was responsible for repeatedly vandalizing a wall bordering his neighborhood.

The young men fled the scene and called police to report the attack, the newspaper said.

Ward and Jaeger told police they thought they were allowed to paint on the wall, but received tickets for defacing a building.

Bowman was ticketed for disorderly conduct, the Journal-Constitution said.