Some warped punk with a BB gun has been firing at people near the corner of Avenue D and East Third Street during the past week; at least eight people have been shot, and several car windows have been blown out by the sniper. Construction worker Edward Gilyard was shot on Friday, and doctors found two pellets lodged next to his skull. He was at his job site when he felt a sharp pain on his right temple, and tells the Daily News, "I put my hand up there and felt the blood... All of a sudden, I had a little hole in my head."
A taxi window was shot up minutes after Gilyard was injured; he returned to work yesterday, but now he hides behind a tree whenever he leaves the walled-off area of the work site. Another victim, Edwin Rivera, was hit twice on Thursday, each time as he stood on the corner of East Third Street chatting with friends; one pellet left a large red welt on his bicep. Investigators suspect the sniper has been shooting from an upper floor of a building in the Lillian Wald Houses along Avenue D, and police have increased foot patrols in the area.
Really, it's lucky no one's had their eye shot out yet; earlier this month, a pellet gun sniper terrorized Brighton Beach residents from a spot in the Seabreeze Condo building. And in February a decorated EMT was investigated for shooting several subordinates "for fun" with a BB gun in their Canarsie headquarters.
