Girl, 12, shot in eye with pellet gun at Tanger Outlets, Suffolk police say
The entrance to Tanger Outlets in Deer Park in 2020. Credit: Howard Schnapp
A 12-year-old girl was shot in the eye with an airsoft pellet gun Monday while walking in the parking lot of the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park — the second such incident in a span of less than 30 minutes, Suffolk police said.
The girl, who was not identified, was struck by a pellet fired by an individual in a passing vehicle about 5:20 p.m., detectives said.
The vehicle was described as a dark-colored four-door sedan, potentially a Hyundai Elantra, occupied by three or four male individuals, police said.
The girl was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip for treatment, police said.
During an interview Tuesday in Yaphank, Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison said the victim was likely not the intended target.
"Nobody's going to point a firearm at a young lady," Harrison said. "We haven't seen incidents like this too often out here in Suffolk County during my time frame here. … From my 30 years of police experience, when people are shooting at another individual it's to antagonize that individual.
"Regarding shooting at a young lady, I can't see that being the case. I don't know what the motive is but we are going to get to the bottom of it and hold them accountable."
During their investigation, police said detectives determined the same vehicle was involved in a similar shooting on Deer Park Avenue in North Babylon about 20 minutes earlier Monday.
Video of that shooting, released by police, showed two individuals on the sidewalk ducking out of the way as a shot was fired out the window of a moving vehicle. No one was injured in that shooting.
Airsoft guns shoot nonmetallic spherical pellets, often made of plastic.
Detectives are asking anyone with information on either shooting to call the First Squad at 631-854-8152 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.
With Cecilia Dowd
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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