Man hit in the eye with BB as teens drive around shooting at random

MIDDLETOWN – Police have charged a 17-year-old Town of Wallkill teen with firing a CO2 cartridge BB pistol that he had purchased hours before, striking a 56-year-old Middletown man in the eye.

Middletown City Police said the man was walking his dog on Prince Street in the City shortly before midnight Friday night when a car with a number of people inside pulled up. One teen, later identified as Michael Miller, allegedly fired the gun, striking the man in the left eye, said Lt. Paul Rickard.

The youths had bought the gun at the Wal-Mart store in Wallkill earlier in the day and drove around the Middletown-Wallkill area Friday night, randomly shooting at people. So far, there are no reports of anyone else being shot, but detectives would like anyone who was struck to call them at 845-343-3151.

The victim was taken to Orange Regional Medical Center and transferred to the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York. Rickard said Monday the BB was still lodged behind the victim’s eye and he could lose sight in it.

A couple of hours later, state troopers on patrol spotted the suspects’ car in Wallkill and stopped it.

They recovered the BB gun and charged Miller with first-degree assault. He was remanded to the Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail.