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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lishot0525,0,1120057.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
Long Island
Woman sorry for shooting intruder
BY ANDREW STRICKLER
[email protected]
May 23, 2007, 10:52 PM EDT
Merrily Ottomanelli stood Wednesday by her kitchen door and pointed to a fist-sized dent from a shotgun blast that left her Coram home splattered with the blood of an armed teenager who police said broke into her home.
"I'm just sorry the gun went off," she said, still visibly shaken 24 hours later. "I thought I'd killed him."
The home invasion began late Tuesday morning as Ottomanelli, 30, a dress store manager and college senior, and her boyfriend, Clifton Gilchrist, 24, were getting ready to go out for breakfast. Hearing the kitchen door open, she looked up to see a young stranger walk into her basement apartment, a pistol raised in one hand.
She screamed and lunged for the door. But, she said, the invader, who police identified as Jonathon Dilone, 18, of Port Jefferson Station, grabbed her by the throat, pushed her against a refrigerator, cocked the gun, and pressed the barrel to her head.
He said, calmly, "I'm here for your money. Where's your wallet?" Ottomanelli recalled. She pleaded, "Please don't do this."
Gilchrist, who was in a back bedroom, said he heard Ottomanelli's cries and grabbed a loaded 12-gauge shotgun he bought last year for protection.
Gilchrist said he charged into the intruder, ramming him with the shotgun, which dropped to the floor. As the pair fought, Ottomanelli said she grabbed the gun and raised it toward the invader, who still held a 9-mm pistol. "We were so close that he reached out and grabbed it, like a tug-of-war," she said.
Ottomanelli, who had never fired a gun before, said she didn't mean to pull the trigger. "There was the slightest touch and it went off," she said.
Gilchrist was holding the assailant from behind when the blast ripped through the invader's right shoulder, sending blood and birdshot scattering around the kitchen. "I felt the force of it, boom," Gilchrist said.
A moment later the assailant ran from the apartment, leaving a trail of blood and bone shards on the concrete walkway.
"I'm suffering over this," Ottomanelli said Wednesday. "It didn't have to go this way. But I'm glad I'm not shot and that my boyfriend's not shot."
Police said Dilone was driven after the shooting by Michael Anuskiewicz, 21, to Anuskiewicz's home in Port Jefferson Station, where an unidentified person called an ambulance. Dilone was taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was arrested. Dilone, who was listed in stable condition Wednesday, is in police custody at the hospital.
Anuskiewicz was arrested Tuesday night at his home. Both men are charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and criminal use of a firearm, all felonies. Anuskiewicz pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip Wednesday and was held on $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond. Dilone's arraignment had not yet been scheduled.
Anuskiewicz told police after his arrest that the pair targeted the house because they believed drug dealers lived there, Det. Sgt. Frank Stewart said, but a search of the house turned up no drugs or paraphernalia.
Matthew Swift, the owner of the house who lives upstairs, said he believed the house was picked at random. "There's nothing wrong with these two," he said of his tenants.
Long Island
Woman sorry for shooting intruder
BY ANDREW STRICKLER
[email protected]
May 23, 2007, 10:52 PM EDT
Merrily Ottomanelli stood Wednesday by her kitchen door and pointed to a fist-sized dent from a shotgun blast that left her Coram home splattered with the blood of an armed teenager who police said broke into her home.
"I'm just sorry the gun went off," she said, still visibly shaken 24 hours later. "I thought I'd killed him."
The home invasion began late Tuesday morning as Ottomanelli, 30, a dress store manager and college senior, and her boyfriend, Clifton Gilchrist, 24, were getting ready to go out for breakfast. Hearing the kitchen door open, she looked up to see a young stranger walk into her basement apartment, a pistol raised in one hand.
She screamed and lunged for the door. But, she said, the invader, who police identified as Jonathon Dilone, 18, of Port Jefferson Station, grabbed her by the throat, pushed her against a refrigerator, cocked the gun, and pressed the barrel to her head.
He said, calmly, "I'm here for your money. Where's your wallet?" Ottomanelli recalled. She pleaded, "Please don't do this."
Gilchrist, who was in a back bedroom, said he heard Ottomanelli's cries and grabbed a loaded 12-gauge shotgun he bought last year for protection.
Gilchrist said he charged into the intruder, ramming him with the shotgun, which dropped to the floor. As the pair fought, Ottomanelli said she grabbed the gun and raised it toward the invader, who still held a 9-mm pistol. "We were so close that he reached out and grabbed it, like a tug-of-war," she said.
Ottomanelli, who had never fired a gun before, said she didn't mean to pull the trigger. "There was the slightest touch and it went off," she said.
Gilchrist was holding the assailant from behind when the blast ripped through the invader's right shoulder, sending blood and birdshot scattering around the kitchen. "I felt the force of it, boom," Gilchrist said.
A moment later the assailant ran from the apartment, leaving a trail of blood and bone shards on the concrete walkway.
"I'm suffering over this," Ottomanelli said Wednesday. "It didn't have to go this way. But I'm glad I'm not shot and that my boyfriend's not shot."
Police said Dilone was driven after the shooting by Michael Anuskiewicz, 21, to Anuskiewicz's home in Port Jefferson Station, where an unidentified person called an ambulance. Dilone was taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he was arrested. Dilone, who was listed in stable condition Wednesday, is in police custody at the hospital.
Anuskiewicz was arrested Tuesday night at his home. Both men are charged with burglary, possession of stolen property and criminal use of a firearm, all felonies. Anuskiewicz pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip Wednesday and was held on $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond. Dilone's arraignment had not yet been scheduled.
Anuskiewicz told police after his arrest that the pair targeted the house because they believed drug dealers lived there, Det. Sgt. Frank Stewart said, but a search of the house turned up no drugs or paraphernalia.
Matthew Swift, the owner of the house who lives upstairs, said he believed the house was picked at random. "There's nothing wrong with these two," he said of his tenants.
