The Brooklyn dad convicted of firing his military-style assault rifle into a crowd of rowdy teens was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in jail for the 2011 attack.
Thomas Dunikowski aimed his AR-15 out of a second-floor window of his Marine Park home and squeezed off 27 rounds into the group of kids. One was shot in the neck, while another was struck by bullet fragments.
“I would just like to say that I am sorry to everyone that I hurt with this whole ordeal,” Dunikowski, 33, said in court before sentencing. “I am sorry they got hurt, and I am sorry I hurt my family and [brought] them through this.”
Dunikowski was hit with a slew of charges, including three counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. But a Brooklyn jury acquitted him of attempted murder and deadlocked on the assault charges.
Dunikowski, a former mortgage broker, testified his neighborhood was a “complete war zone” and kids were threatening his family.
In avoiding a possible retrial, he took a plea deal in which he copped to first-degree assault in exchange for eight years in jail and five years of post-release supervision. His family was not in court Wednesday, the attorney said.
“This is an unfortunate set of circumstances that led to him firing a weapon to protect his wife and self and his neighbors,” said Dunikowski’s attorney, Jay Schwitzman.