The Brooklyn man who allegedly opened fire on a bunch of rowdy teens is a hero, not a menace, says the mother of one of his inadvertent victims.
Thomas Dunikowksi, who was arraigned on attempted-murder and weapons charges yesterday, was “just trying to protect us,” said Larisa Kaprovskaya, whose 21-year-old daughter was hit in the leg in the wild Saturday-night shooting.
“They started to come here and were kicking my car,” she said of the gang of 20 teens. “They were screaming at my face. They started to surround us. And then I heard the shooting. It was like the Fourth of July.”
On a YouTube video purporting to be footage of the incident, several dozen shots can be heard, rattled off in rapid succession.
Dunikowksi, 30, had earlier confronted the teens outside his Marine Park home and struck one of them, prosecutors said.
But when they refused to leave, he fetched his unlicensed Bushmaster 5.56mm assault rifle, and began firing from his window, police said.
One of the youths was shot in collarbone and had to have a lung removed during emergency surgery, while the other victim was hit with shrapnel in the arm, and Kaprovskaya, who was sitting nearby, was hit by fragments in the knee, prosecutors said.
Several of the teens who witnessed the shooting said that Dunikowksi earlier assaulted one of the youths.
“We saw him drinking beforehand, beer or wine — and he threw something at the group,” said Sal Migano.
Adam, 16, said his best friend was one of those shot by Dunikowksi.
“My friend looked at me that night and told me he didn’t want to die,” he said. “I was lying on the ground with him.”
No one should be defending his actions, said Alex Machaal, another friend of the victims.
“He did not find the need to call the cops when he was disturbed by the noise, but his first reaction was to attack and open fire,” he said. “Is this something a normal person would think to do first?”
After firing off the shots, Dunikowksi — who lives with his wife and baby son — hid the rifle on the roof, and then holed up in the bathroom, prosecutors said.
Dunikowksi, who was held in lieu of $500,000 bail, fired in self-defense, said his attorney, Jay Schwitzman.
“You’re allowed to use deadly physical force for burglaries or attempted burglaries,” he said. “These kids are no good.”
THE VIDEO PURPORTED TO BE OF THE GUNFIRE:
Additional reporting by William J. Gorta