Elderly Man, Teenage Grandsons Shot at With Paintball Guns in Possible Hate Crime: Police

Police are investigating after an Orthodox Jewish man and his two teenage grandsons were shot at with paintball guns in Brooklyn Friday.

The elderly Hasidic man was not hit, but his 13- and 16-year-old grandsons were struck by paintballs at Morton Street near Juliana Place in Williamsburg, police said.

Authorities said the 13-year-old was struck in the heel of his shoe and the 16-year-old was struck somewhere on his body, though it wasn't clear where. Neither was seriously injured.

Police said there were no witnesses, no cars at the scene and the suspects did not say anything to the victims before or after firing the paintballs.

Police say it was the second attack of its kind within a week. Authorities say a Hasidic man was struck in the shoulder with a paintball on Kent Avenue near Hewes Street on March 23.

The man was not seriously injured.

It was not immediately clear if the two paintball shootings were linked, but both are being investigated as possible hate crimes, authorities said. 

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