Community members are raising safety concerns after at least one car was struck by a bullet Sunday at a park located next to a shooting range.
Greg Passannante, of Lake Grove, says he took his 1952 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 to a classic car show that was held at Firemen’s Park in Ridge. It was there that he says his 66-year-old car was struck by a bullet, which he found on the ground with flecks of his teal paint job on it.
Passannante says he had walked away from his car with his 10-year-old son to get a snack when his vehicle was struck.
"It hit the car at the same height as my 10-year-old's chest, so I'm just a little scared that anyone could have gotten hit there," Passannante says.
The entrance to Firemen’s Park is adjacent to the Long Island Shooting Range at Brookhaven. The range is about 1,000 to 1,500 feet from the park, separated by some trees.
As News 12 has reported, the range has been a point of contention in the community through the years.
The town of Brookhaven, which owns the range, tells News 12 in a statement that it is “continuing to work with the Suffolk County Police Department and is contacting the vendor that operates the range."
News 12 attempted to contact the company that operates the range, but it has not returned calls for comment.
Other car owners at the show on Sunday told Passannante that other cars have been hit previous years -- and they said a second car may have even been hit on Sunday.
Passannante says he's glad no one was hurt in the park, but he's skeptical of how safe the location is with the range so close by.
"Sooner or later, someone might get hit," he says. "I mean, I won't go back."