Thomas Dunikowski Allegedly Shoots At Crowd Of Rowdy Teens In Marine Park, Brooklyn

Thomas Dunikowski, the Marine Park man who allegedly opened fire on a group of rowdy teenagers Saturday, is being called a hero by the mother of one of the victims.
Larisa Kaprovskaya's 21-year-old daughter Yana was a bystander hit by shrapnel in her left leg when Dunikowski discharged ten rounds with his semi-automatic hunting rifle into a crowd of 30 teenagers, according to The New York Daily News. The teen terrors were knocking over trashcans and vandalizing cars outside Kaprovaskava and Dunikowki's neighboring houses.
"He shot because he wants to protect us," said Kaprovskaya, 50, told the News. "I don't know what would have happened to us if he didn't try to protect us. I appreciate him."
Yana Kaprovskaya was not badly hurt but two of the teenagers suffered more serious injuries.
One bullet went through the neck of a 17-year-old Francis Ruan, and fragments of the bullets hit a 15-year-old David Mahoney. Both boys were hospitalized but expected to survive, according to PIX11.
The altercation began when Dunikowski warned the kids that they needed to quiet down and to get off his stoop. When the teens didn't budge, Dunikowski punched Ruan in the face, breaking his glasses, the News reports. It was then that Dunikowski went back inside, grabbed his illegal hunting rifle and fired rounds from a second story window.
Dunikowski, who lives with his wife and baby son, then stashed the gun on the roof and climbed into bed naked, according to The New York Post, pretending he was asleep.

And when cops arrived, Dunikowski's wife told the cops her husband wasn't involved but gave him up when they said her 2-year-old could be taken away if she covered up a crime.
Dunikowski was charged with assault with intent to cause serious injury with a weapon, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest, the Post reports.

I would challenge the claim that this guy was protecting anyone. I would point out that this is about vandalism, not a threat to life or bodily harm; kids were kicking the tires of parked cars, not doing any actual damage. There is no indication whatsoever that any of the teens were armed. This jerk shot at them from an upstairs window after punching a kid.

It would be interesting to explore further if the cops were on the way to deal with the kids. This would seem to be a clear case of the 'cure' being worse than the problem it was intended to correct. Further, it demonstrates all of the problems with vigilantes taking the law in to their own hands, as has been advocated by asses like Neal Boortz.