2 men arrested after jogger, car shot with air gun

Two Suffolk men face felony assault charges after they shot a car and a jogger with an air gun, damaging the vehicle and leaving the man with a head wound, officials said.

In a statement given to police at Huntington Hospital and filed in court Monday, Richard Miltner, 21, of Greenlawn, described jogging with another man along Old Field Road near his home on Sunday afternoon.

"I heard a pop sound . . . and then my head just started ringing," he said. Before he realized what had happened, a driver pulled up and told him "you just got shot and my car just got shot," he told police. "I put my hand on the back of my head and it had blood all over it."

Suffolk police arrested Todd Nilssen, 22, and Amrit Mahajan, 21, both of Greenlawn, a short time later, charging them with felony assault with a weapon and criminal mischief. The criminal complaint filed against Nilssen says he told officers he and Mahajan were shooting the weapons "out of the window."

Nilssen's father, Kenneth, said his son and Mahajan were shooting from a second-floor window, either at a target or at birds and squirrels. "I guess it went through the bushes," he said. "It was a stupid accident. I guess they weren't thinking but there was no intention to hurt anyone."

Nilssen pleaded not guilty in first District Court in Central Islip. He was represented by a Legal Aid attorney and held on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond. Attempts to reach the Mahajan family were not successful.