WESTFIELD – Some folks in marketing have been known to use “hard sell” techniques to move their merchandise but attempting to make a sale at gunpoint is a little over the top – even if the gun fires BBs.
Officer Paul Pellan, whose primary duty with the city police is to be a school resource officer, reported Friday that two eighth grade boys, aged 13 and 14, complained that they had been accosted Monday while they were riding their bikes on Mechanic Street by two other teens who had electronics for sale.
Pellan reports the boys said that they had been stopped in the area of the St. Mary’s schools parking lot by the other two boys on bikes who asked them to by an iPod or an Xbox.
The boys told Pellan that when they initially declined to buy the items one of the boys became “aggressive” in his offer and when they continued to refuse he produced a “pistol style” BB gun.
The boy with the pistol fired three BBs, Pellan reports, one of which struck the bicep of one of the boys resulting in a red mark surrounded by a bruise.
The other suspect boy reportedly asked the boy who was shot if he was all right before both suspects left the area on their bikes.
Pellan reports he will continue his investigation in coordination with the community policing officer for the area.
