Marine Park Shooting: Man Wounds Teens Who Refuse To Leave Stoop
A Marine Park man has been charged with assault, intent to cause serious injury with a weapon, unlawful use of a loaded firearm, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest after opening fire on a group of teens and wounding three on Saturday.
The bloodshed began when the teens refused to leave the stoop of Thomas Dunikowski’s Stuart Street home just before midnight. Dunikowski, who has an arrest record for domestic incidents, grabbed his gun and perched himself at his second floor window, firing down on the teens. He struck two of them, and a fragment hit a resident.
The Daily News describes the scene:
A bullet sliced through the neck of a 17-year-old, and fragments from other rounds hit a 14-year-old boy, tearing into his left thigh and one of his arms, police said.
Both were hospitalized and expected to survive, police said.
The teens were rambunctious and making a terrible racket as they hung out on the stoop outside Dunikowski’s home on Stuart St. about 11:40 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Dunikowski initially told them to scram, but they ignored his warning – and he didn’t take it lightly, police said.
Incensed, Dunikowski went inside his home, fetched his semi-automatic hunting rifle and loaded it. He opened a second-floor window, took aim and began firing as if it were target practice, police said.
According to the New York Post, an innocent bystander was also struck. Yana Kaprovskaya, 21, was struck in the knee by a bullet fragment. The tabloid had a bit more about the kids and what Dunikowski did after firing:
The gang of menacing young thugs began prowling the block around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, knocking over trash, vandalizing cars and lounging on the steps of homes, residents said.
Thomas Dunikowski, 30, was among those who confronted the teens, to no avail.
He then stormed back into his house, grabbed his unlicensed Bushmaster 5.56 mm, and started blasting from a second-floor window, cops said.
Dunikowski, who lives with his wife and baby son, then stashed the gun on the roof and climbed into bed naked, pretending he was asleep, police sources said.
When cops arrived, Dunikowski’s wife at first told them he was not involved. But she eventually gave him up when they said her 2-year-old could be taken away if she covered up a crime, the sources said.
One of our readers, JH, passed by the scene shortly after it happened, and had this to say:
in the wake of last weeks shooting in brighton beach I return home from a great day at the mermade parade.After seeing my buddys Neptune Jam play ..I go to drop off my friend on Stuart Street, and a teen was shot by the jr high school in front of her house!
It appeared that a kid was shot off his bike where there was loads of blood. Many male teens were at the scene. A man was in handcuffs..and I was told another shooter was already removed from the scene.
As I walked away it appears there were other injurys….
Please lets get these kids away from GUNS…we need gun control in brooklyn not smoking bans….put the cops where we need them.