Laurel Man Shot Kid Playing Ring-and-Run, Cops Say

A 64-year-old Laurel man was arrested for allegedly shooting a boy who repeatedly knocked on the front and back door of the suspect’s home and ran away Thursday, Southold Town Police said.

James Moshier was charged with second-degree assault for recklessly causing physical injury to a child by intentionally discharging a firearm, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, if he is convicted.

Police said the alleged gunman shot the victim, whose age was not released, with a shotgun through the glass of his rear door, striking the boy in the upper right arm, at Moshier’s Peconic Bay Boulevard home in Laurel shortly after 9 p.m. The 15-year-old victim was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment.

At the time of the shooting, the boy appeared to be playing a game known as ring-and-run, also known as ding dong ditch, in which kids ring doorbells or knock on doors and run away before the resident opens the door.

Moshier was arraigned at Southold Town Justice Court.

This is the second time in a month that a Suffolk County resident was arrested for an altercation involving ring-and-run. A 42-year-old West Babylon man was charged with menacing and endangering the welfare of a child after he allegedly chased a 13-year-old boy who rang his doorbell and ran away on March 4. In that case, the suspect allegedly pushed the victim against a car, hit the boy’s head against the car window, displayed pepper spray, threatened to use it on the boy, and threatened to let his dog attack him if he tried to run away, police said.