FEATHERS FLY: Sharon Ranieri and daughter Alexis, at home yesterday, said the ruckus started over tossed chalk.
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A crazed Staten Island woman, enraged that an 11-year-old girl threw a piece of chalk too close to her chicken coop, opened fire on the child and her mom, the alleged victims and law-enforcement sources told The Post yesterday.
Elizabeth Gelman, 49, allegedly fired at Alexis Ranieri, and her mother, Sharon, who were on their back deck Monday night.
“I felt something go right by my head, something hit my forearm,” said the girl, who was struck by wood or siding that came loose from the bullets. “She shot at me, but she just had bad aim.”
The drama began Sunday when Alexis was playing with a pal near Gelman’s home.
“I threw a piece of chalk in her yard,” Alexis said. “I don’t know why.”
Later, Gelman approached Sharon and flipped out over the incident, the mom said.
“Your daughter threw chalk at my chicken,” Gelman hissed, Sharon said.
Later that day, a bike belonging to Ranieri’s youngest daughter, Felicia, was damaged. The next morning, Rainieri found that her car had been keyed and spray-painted.
She filed a police report saying Gelman was the culprit because a neighbor told her she caught her in the act.
Then, at around 10 that night, Gelman, 49, allegedly opened fire.
“I was sitting outside with my mom and I had just asked her if I could watch a Leonardo DiCaprio movie. All of a sudden, I heard a shot,” Alexis said.
“It was really loud.”
Sharon said she “saw the gun from [Gelman’s] window pointed right at my daughter. I don’t know how my daughter is alive. Thank God she’s OK.”
They ran inside and called 911. When detectives arrived, Gelman, refused to answer the door, Sharon said, adding, We could see her in the window, she was washing the dishes, pretending everything was OK.”
Cops got a search warrant and found a .38-caliber revolver and 43 bullets in a safe in Gelman’s basement, according to court papers.
She was charged with weapons possession and possession of ammunition and freed without bail.
Investigators are still performing ballistics tests to confirm the bullets were fired from her gun, a law-enforcement source said.
A woman who answered the phone at Gelman’s home declined to comment.