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PEEKSKILL, N.Y. Sandy Allen enjoys sitting on a bench outside her Dunbar Heights home with her granddaughter.
Fortunately, her granddaughter was sleeping inside March 8 at 6:15 p.m., when eight rounds from a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol were fired nearby, striking the taillight of a car but missing several residents who were playing outside.
An angry Allen told the Peekskill Common Council last week that she had warned them something bad was going to happen there.
"I said it two weeks ago and sure enough it happened. I've been asking for help and nothing," Allen said. "Somebody is going to get hurt out there."
Allen, who said a young boy's leg was grazed during the shooting, an injury unconfirmed by police, pleaded with council members to have police foot patrols assigned to Dunbar Heights, which is on Highland Avenue.
However, she also criticized Peekskill police for distributing a flier the day after the shooting that she called "offensive."
"They had the audacity to send a police officer door to door with a very negative memo," she said. "Nobody trusts the Peekskill P.D., especially Dunbar. Just because we're low-income housing doesn't mean we're poor. We try to do better for ourselves. That's all we can do for right now."
The police flier police said, "We need your help in order for us to protect you, your family and loved ones and to successfully identify and prosecute the criminals who committed this violent act, without forethought or regard for the hundreds of innocent people they put in harm's way and to prevent further violence."
Detective Sergeant Raymond Henderlong told The Daily Peekskill this week that the police had increased their "presence in the area" in an effort to deter any further incidents.
No arrests have been made in the March 8 shooting.
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