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Jun 13, 2023

South Windsor police: Man shoots ball bearing into moving car

FILE PHOTO - Using a slingshot, a man launched a ball bearing through the window

FILE PHOTO - Using a slingshot, a man launched a ball bearing through the window of a moving car in South Windsor, police say. They found him in East Windsor and arrested him. No one was injured in the random attack.

SOUTH WINDSOR — An Enfield man who police say used a slingshot to shoot a ball bearing into a moving car was arrested Thursday.

No one was injured during the slingshot attack on Route 5, which Sgt. Mark Cleverdon said appears random.

Police charged Matthew J. West, 44, with tampering with a motor vehicle and second-degree reckless endangerment, Cleverdon said. He was released on $500 bail and was scheduled to appear in state Superior Court in Manchester March 8.

According to Cleverdon, officers arrested West about 1:50 a.m. Earlier, they received a call from a driver who said he was traveling on Route 5 near Governor's Highway when the person in the driver's seat of a stopped car — later determined to be West — shot a ball bearing into his car with a slingshot.

Officers got a description of the offending vehicle and learned that police in the neighboring town of East Windsor were investigating an incident involving the same car at Walmart, Cleverdon said. That incident was described as a "breach of peace," he said.

South Windsor officers went to the East Windsor scene, found the slingshot and ball bearings, and discovered that the ball bearings matched the size of the hole in the victim's car window, he said.

"It was a bizarre case but our officers did a great job investigating it," Cleverdon said.

He said no one else reported having ball bearings launched at them in South Windsor.

Christine Dempsey may be reached at [email protected].