I am happy for this assemblyman and his son — that they were not targeted — but that it was a random shooting in Brooklyn before nightfall is not exactly comforting:
A sport utility vehicle driven by Assemblyman William F. Boyland Jr. was hit by gunfire in Brooklyn on Wednesday evening as he rode with his 7-year-old son, a police spokeswoman said.
Neither Mr. Boyland nor his son was injured, said the spokeswoman, Deputy Inspector Kim Royster of the New York Police Department.
Inspector Royster said Wednesday night that investigators did not believe that Mr. Boyland, a four-term assemblyman who represents the 55th Assembly District in Brooklyn, was the intended target of the shooting, which occurred in his district. She said it appeared to be “a random shooting.”
“It doesn’t seem they were aiming at the vehicle,” Inspector Royster said.
The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. while Mr. Boyland, who was returning from a barber shop, was driving near the intersection of Saratoga and Sutter Avenues in Brownsville, the authorities said. After hearing several shots ring out, Mr. Boyland pulled over and called the police, Inspector Royster said, adding that initially, Mr. Boyland, 40, did not know that the vehicle he was driving, a 2009 G.M.C., had been struck.