Jewish dad, son shot by BB gun
Pair had been shopping at kosher food store on Staten Island
A father who was shot with his 7-year-old son by BB pellets as the two left a kosher grocery store in Staten Island believes they were targeted because they are Jewish — and swore to find the craven attacker.
The disturbing attack came after antisemitic hate crimes more than doubled last month, according to NYPD stats.
“It was definitely a targeted attack because I saw him coming very slowly, super slow,” Isaac Klein told the Daily News on Monday. “Hitting me and my son — direct hit.”
Klein and his son Alexander were leaving Island Kosher grocery store on Victory Blvd. near Carmel Ave. in Castleton Corners when a black Ford Mustang rolled past the store at 4:20 p.m. Sunday, according to police.
“I came out, he drove by, he went super slow, he shot me and my son and he drove off,” recounted Klein, 32.
Alexander was grazed in the ear while the father was hit in the chest. They were both wearing yarmulkes.
Police are still looking for the BB gun shooter, but the furious father issued a warning of his own.
“I’m confident I’m going to find him,” Klein said. “I’m going to do whatever possible to get this guy.”
Klein and the boy suffered minor injuries and refused medical attention at the scene.
The shooter was behind the wheel of the Mustang — which had no front or rear license plates — as he pulled the trigger.
The father caught a glimpse of the driver’s face, which he described as white. The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the attack.
“I’m feeling like, what’s this all about?” Klein asked. “It’s like sickening to watch, that there’s [these] people out there.”
The incident left Alexander “traumatized.”
“He didn’t sleep that night,” Klein said. “He kept repeating himself. Like if it would be a real gun, he’d be dead.”
It wasn’t the first time the family has fallen victim to an antisemitic attack in recent months.
Down the street from their Staten Island home this past summer, a group of kids drove by Klein and his wife and yelled, “F—- you Jews!”
“Hate is out there — you see it — but to physically abuse or throw something or with a BB gun hitting a kid, that’s unacceptable,” Klein said.
Citywide, antisemitic hate crimes jumped a shocking 125% in November, compared to the same time last year, the latest NYPD data show.
There were 45 anti-Jewish crimes last month compared to 20 in November 2021, police said.
The spike came the same month a plot to shoot up a city synagogue was foiled. Meanwhile, antisemetic rhetoric has festered on social media, with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West recently praising Hitler on far right-wing media host Alex Jones’ show.