Teenager shot in face with pellet gun

Marisa O’Neil

Police are looking for the person who shot a 17-year-old boy in the

face with a pellet gun on Friday as he rode his bicycle near Cliff

Drive Park.

The Costa Mesa resident was riding his bicycle east on Riverside

Drive near Cliff Drive at about 5 p.m. when someone fired shots at

him, police said. One of the metal pellets lodged in his cheek and

was later removed at Hoag Hospital, Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Shulman

said.

The boy, whose name was not released, is recovering and in good

condition, Shulman said. Whoever shot him faces a charge of felony

assault with a deadly weapon.

“Right now, we believe it’s an isolated incident,” Shulman said.

No suspects are in custody, and police have no description of the

shooter or shooters who “sniped at” the boy, Shulman said.

The pellet removed from the boy’s cheek was a lead,

hourglass-shaped pellet that would have come from a pellet gun that

uses an air pump or carbon dioxide cartridge to fire the projectiles,

Shulman said.

It was not the type of pellet fired by airsoft guns. The City

Council in May voted to ban the firing of airsoft guns, which greatly

resemble real guns.

Pellet guns were already illegal.

“It’s deplorable conduct,” Councilman Steve Bromberg said of the

shooting. “When something like that hits close to home, we take

notice. It’s not something we’re used to seeing in our city.

“Using a pellet gun, an airsoft gun or a real gun, shooting

anybody with anything is an act of viciousness.”

Councilman Dick Nichols abstained from the vote on the airsoft

guns, citing his belief in the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

Though he adamantly believes in those rights, he said he was

disheartened that someone would disobey the law and be so

irresponsible as to shoot at someone unprovoked.

“They certainly shouldn’t be shooting people or near people,” he

said. “To have somebody just shot riding a bicycle, this is

ridiculous.”

Before the law change, groups of children were staging mock

battles with one another in the Back Bay area with airsoft guns,

causing concern among residents and environmentalists. But this is

the first case Shulman has heard of someone being randomly shot at,

he said.

In 2002, police believed paint-ball players had caused the death

of a man rollerblading on Back Bay Drive. But months later, the

coroner found that Gary Holdren had fallen and cracked his skull on

the pavement and that paintball debris found nearby did not

contribute to his death.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4268 or at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.