CHELSEA — A pellet gun wielding vandal is turning a section of the neighborhood into a war zone.
The suspected gunman has shot up about half a dozen storefronts and apartment buildings on the north side of 23rd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues last week, police and witnesses said.
The barrage of pellets shattered the front door of 241 W. 23rd St. and pierced windows of a residence at 255 W. 23rd St., a jewelry store called Eye Candy, a dentist and eye doctor's office, and an AT&T store on that block.
The shots came in at least two separate incidents on Friday and Saturday. The first incident took place in broad daylight at 3 p.m. on Friday, according to police.
Michelle Temple, 41, who works at Dental Associates of New York at 241 W. 23rd Street, was near the window at the time. She said she heard, "poom, poom, poom."
"[It sounded like] pebbles hitting the window, I kept looking. Like, who would throw something at the window."
She couldn't see where the gunman was shooting from, she said.
In that incident, a resident on the third floor of 241 W. 23rd St. also had his window pierced by a pellet, according to police and the super of the building.
Three more windows halfway down the block were hit overnight, according to witnesses and police.
Another entrance to an apartment building at 225 W. 23rd St. was hit, workers there said. Eye Candy and employees of AT&T opened shop on Saturday to discover their windows had also been nicked by bbs.
"It's a little scary that someone would be so irresponsible in this day and age," said Ron Cladwell, who has sold jewelry from his 23rd Street location for three years. He declined to give his age.
Most of the windows were clipped or pierced by the pellets, but the glass door entrance to 241 W. 23rd St. was completely shattered and had to be replaced, the building's super Roberto Perez, 55, said.
"Thirteen years and I've never seen something like this." said Perez, who's worked at the building for more than a decade. "I'm scared to be out here now. They might shoot me in the face."
No arrests have been made and police did not provide any further immediate comment.
