Bristol police are investigating whether there's a connection between two seemingly random BB gun shootings on Saturday evening and again on Monday.
A 58-year-old man was walking in the area of 200 Blakeslee Street in Bristol around 7 p.m. on Monday when he thought he heard shots from a paintball gun, but soon realized it was something else when he was hit in the face and felt a stinging sensation. A person holding a BB gun confronted him and fired again before running away.
Police responded to the area at 7:08 p.m. and searched for the BB gun shooter, but couldn't find the person.
The victim had two non-life-threatening puncture wounds on the right side of his face and neck that were consistent with BB gun wounds.
This is similar to another incident over the weekend when two male veterans were pelted by BB gunfire at about 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 30 while waiting for a cab in front of the Disabled American Veterans Club on Riverside Avenue in Bristol. In that incident, a 66-year-old man was hit in the face and the other man was grazed.
"It's a good area. There's no problems," Bruce Champagne, of Bristol, previously said of the BB gun incident in front of the Disabled American Veterans Club. "I'm very surprised that it happened here.
People from the veterans club said they're disgusted by what happened outside their facility recently.
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"We would never figure something like that would happen here. Why should it? It's a veterans outlet," Eugene Bald, Disabled American Veterans Club Board of Management member, previously said.
Police have a partial description of the possible shooter and said he is sticky, between 20 and 30, and about 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9 and was last seen wearing a gray baseball shirt with blue sleeves and a baseball hat or bandanna.
The description of the shooter from the first incident is very similar, police said. He was wearing dark clothing, a hat and may have tattoos on his right arm.
Anyone with information is asked to call Bristol police at 860-584-3000 or the tips line at 860-585-TIPS (8477) if you have information about who is behind the attacks.
