Juvenile charged in bias-related pellet gun shooting in Teaneck
The 17-year-old driver was charged with simple assault, conspiracy, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and multiple counts of bias intimidation.
Top Stories
A 17-year-old boy has been charged after police say he participated in a bias-related assault with a gel pellet gun that targeted a man in Teaneck.
Officers responded around 6:10 p.m. Sunday to West Englewood Avenue after receiving a report that a person had been shot with a gel pellet gun.
Police said a 19-year-old Teaneck resident told officers he had been walking on Ogden Avenue around 6 p.m. when a black car approached and an occupant asked whether he supported Israel or Palestine. The victim said he did not respond and continued walking.
According to police, one of the three occupants in the vehicle said something the victim believed to be in Arabic before firing a gel pellet gun, striking him. The vehicle then fled.
The victim later saw the same vehicle on Jefferson Street. When he began recording it on his cellphone, a person leaning out of the passenger-side window fired multiple gel pellets as the car drove east on Ogden Avenue, striking him about 10 times in the upper torso, police said. The victim was not injured.
Investigators found small orange gel beads at the scene, consistent with ammunition used in gel pellet guns. The victim told police he believed he was targeted because he was wearing visible religious garments.
Detectives used video captured by the victim and traffic cameras to identify the vehicle. Shortly after arriving at the registered owner’s home, police found and stopped the vehicle, authorities said.
During a search of the car detectives seized a gel pellet gun, a water gun and a container of gel pellets, police said.
The 17-year-old driver was charged with simple assault, conspiracy, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and multiple counts of bias intimidation.
Police said detectives are working to identify the other individuals involved.
