Someone has been taking potshots at a Bronx mosque with a pellet gun, possibly for months, according to police.
The shooter has struck Masjid Ebun Abass in Mott Haven three, possibly four times, as recently as Friday.
Back in February, someone at the mosque's gift shop reported damage to the storefront window caused by "a small metal marble," according to an NYPD spokeswoman. No one saw the culprit in action.
Then on the evening of May 30th, shortly after the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a 63-year-old man was walking in front of the mosque when a pellet hit him in the chest, police said.
The man, Sailum Camarra, told ABC7 that his coat stopped the projectile. "I am lucky that it didn't come at my head, it didn't come at my eyes," Camarra said
Shots fired last Thursday at around 10:30 p.m., during evening prayers, again cracked the gift shop window. And on Friday, also during evening prayers, another fusillade damaged the window further. Officers recovered three pellets at the scene.
The NYPD doesn't have a record of it, but a worshipper at the mosque told CBS2 that he was hit in the foot with a pellet when he left prayers on Friday night. An apartment window above the mosque has also been hit in recent months, according to the authorities.
Police are now stationed out in front of the masjid, and the NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating.
Mosque leader Habibedu Trawally told the Daily News, "People are worried. We have no idea if these were [hate crimes] but that's what we're thinking about."
