Woman struck by bullet fired at gun range, report finds
GREENBURGH – An object that struck a woman on Birch Hill Road in June was a fragment of a bullet that may have been fired at an improperly used metal target at the Westchester County Police Revolver & Rifle League shooting range, according to a police report.
Though testing on the object and ammunition samples provided by the two range members who were shooting when the woman was hit on June 12 showed no link, a months-long investigation provided circumstantial evidence pointing back to the range, according to the report obtained by The Journal News on Monday.
The alleged victim, whose name was redacted in the report, told officers that she had been struck in the knee by a bullet while playing with her three children and their nanny at a playground near her home in the Ardsley Chase housing development. Her injury is described as "a small abrasion on her left knee."
The woman told police that she had heard gunfire from the nearby range at 693 Ardsley Road and believed the bullet had been fired by a member.
Investigators soon found circumstantial indicators linking the object to the range, including the facts that the range was 500 feet from where the woman was hit and that officers heard gunfire at the time.
Investigators also noted that they later found "hundreds of rounds and lead fragments" on grounds near the housing development and outside the range. Further, a metal target was being improperly used and had given way to the point where ammunition was striking "at an angle creating a condition for the rounds to ricochet."
Robert J. Berkowitz, a five-year range member, said he was not shocked to learn police had found lead fragments nearby.
"You have to understand that that range had been in use for 73 years and the protection and safety protocols in place now, as opposed to those of 10 years ago or 20 years ago, ... are very different," the 52-year-old Scarsdale native said, adding that fragments around the grounds could have been fired decades ago. "The fact that they may have found fragments is not surprising, but there was no danger to the public."
An experienced shooter, Berkowitz believes ricocheting may have been possible, but said the range had been designed so that no bullet or bullet fragment capable of causing significant injury could have escaped the property.
The shooting range, which had been in operation since 1941 and was not affiliated with any law enforcement agency, stood on land owned by Consolidated Edison.
Following the June 12 incident, there was substantial discord between members of the 73-year-old range and residents of Ardsley Chase, a Toll Brothers community that first opened in January 2013, who called for its closure. In July, Con Ed announced it would revoke the range's lease the following month. A spokesman for Con Ed declined to comment on the matter after viewing the final police report.
Aaron Woodin, another five-year member, laid partial blame on the luxury home builder for not taking steps to ensure a mutual peace between the existing range and new housing development.
"At the very least, Toll Brothers should have sent some sort of emissary or taken some type of initiative," he said Monday. "The onus was on them to initiate the conversation as the encroaching party."
A spokeswoman for Toll Brothers also declined to comment.
Woodin, a White Plains native, said he had always felt safe at the range and had complete confidence in its leadership as well as those who used to stand beside him in the firing line.
"Losing the place was a huge loss to the area," he said. "It was heavily used by local law enforcement ... it was also a family-friendly place that sort of lent itself to a multi-generational passing of the sport of shooting. All of that is gone now."
Staff writer Elizabeth Ganga contributed to this report.