NYPD probing multiple pellet gun shootings. Here's where they happened.
NEW YORK -- The NYPD is investigating if at least three pellet gun shootings are connected.
They happened on Sunday night and Monday in Manhattan and the Bronx.
Lower East Side resident Allen Stern said he was walking from a synagogue with friends on Monday at around 7:30 a.m. when he was struck.
"That's where it hit me, right there," Stern said of the mark on his wrist. "Who goes out in the morning and says, 'I'm gonna shoot people randomly with a pellet gun?' It's crazy."
The 62-year-old added, "[I'm] walking along and I see this gentleman on a bike. He pulls up a big orange super soaker-type thing and next thing you know I'm hit in the wrist."
Surveillance video shows three people on bikes riding on Clinton Street, with one holding up what appears to be that orange gun and pointing it at the group along the sidewalk, before riding off.
"If it would have hit me, I'm gonna be in the hospital," Stern said.
"They seemed to be just doing it out of kicks"
About 45 minutes after Stern was struck, police say a similar incident happened on Fifth Avenue near 35th Street.
Investigators say a 47-year-old man was struck in the back with a GelBlaster pellet. According to police, when he attempted to confront the three males on bicycles, there was a physical altercation and the group fled.
On Sunday night in the Bronx, an MTA worker told police shots were fired at his vehicle on Valentine Avenue, shattering the driver-side window. He told officers he felt back and elbow pain, pulled over, and realized pellets of a BB gun were lodged into his vehicle.
While the NYPD investigates if the incidents are connected, Stern said he hopes those responsible get help.
"You want them to get their fair justice, but I just hope they turn their lives around because they seemed to be just doing it out of kicks," Stern said.
Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.
