Police arrested a 15-year-old teen who they say targeted pedestrians from the roof of an 86th Street apartment — with a blowgun — on May 20.
Three victims reported being struck with “long needle-like darts,” between Bay 31st and Bay 32nd streets in their arms, stomach, and legs in the indiscriminate, blowgun shooting spree that started shortly after 7 pm.
Bath Beach resident Georgiy Ostrozhnyuk, 66, was lounging in his neighbor’s SUV near Bay 32nd Street when darts began pinging off the car door and flying through the window.
“Suddenly, I felt like a punch in my thigh. I saw a needle in my leg and the second time in my stomach,’” Ostrozhnyuk told our sister publication, the New York Post.
Ming Chen, 40, was only a few yards away from Ostrozhnyuk when he was hit by three darts.
Another victim, Arkadiy Shklyaver, was struck in the stomach. Chen was struck in the leg.
“It felt like something bit me,” said Shklyaver, who was walking to a subway station after visiting his mother. “I took out the dart, and there was blood on my hand.”
The teenage suspect was arrested the next day.
When investigators traced the trajectory of the darts and knocked on the assailant’s door, he “basically copped to it,” cops said.
Police searched the suspect’s apartment, and recovered several darts from his room, although no blowgun was found, which the teen told them resides with his accomplice, cops said.
The suspect identified his accomplice, who is also 15, but police say investigators were unable to arrest the other boy on the arrested assailant’s testimony alone.
More evidence of the other teen’s involvement is needed before an arrest is made, the police source said.
Reach reporter Colin MIxson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.
