Arrest in pellet gun shooting of NYC mayor's guard
NEW YORK -- New York City police say a man has been arrested on charges of assault and reckless endangerment after a security officer assigned to guard Mayor Bill de Blasio was shot with a pellet gun.
The 19-year-old man was arrested Monday in the assault on the officer outside Gracie Mansion, where the mayor and his family live. The mayor wasn't home at the time.
The officer was struck in the back with a pellet Sunday night. Her injuries were minor.
Police say there's no indication the officer was targeted.
CBS New York identified the suspect as Michael Veritsky. Police told the station Veritsky was with his girlfriend Sunday when he fired the pellet from his 10th floor apartment on East End Ave., just across the street from the mansion.
The officer's partner reportedly looked up and noticed people peering out of the window, but when officers knocked on the apartment door, police say the occupants fled. They were eventually tracked down nearby.
The female officer who was struck was reportedly a part of mayor de Blasio's advance team, and had pulled up to the mayor's residence ahead of his arrival when the incident occurred.
Veritsky is charged with assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, reckless endangerment, three counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of criminal mischief.
His girlfriend hasn't been charged, reports the station.
Veritsky is accused in two other pellet gun shootings in the area last week that damaged windows on nearby buildings, police said.