A homeless man was shot in the eye with a BB gun Monday near the Santa Monica Pier.
Santa Monica Police arrested 38 year-old Kyle Leon Castaneda of Los Angeles in connection with the assault.
The scary attack — which began as a dispute over shoes — occurred in Palisades Park just after 1:30 p.m.
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Per SMDP:
A Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Pubic Services Officer working near the top of the Pier witnessed a man waving a gun and yelling in the 1500 Block of Palisades Park and broadcast the information over the police radio.
Several SMPD officers arrived on scene within minutes and were able to detain the man and retrieve a BB gun dropped by the suspect as the officers approached.
Other officers contacted a victim and witnesses to the incident. The victim, a 54-year-old person experiencing homelessness, told officers that he was standing in the park when the suspect, Kyle Leon Castaneda, a 38-year-old from Los Angeles, accused the victim of stealing his shoes.
According to preliminary information, Castaneda was standing ten to fifteen feet from the victim when he pulled a BB gun from a bag and shot at the victim several times in the face and upper torso. One of the BBs hit the victim in the right eye, rupturing the globe. The victim also had a pellet lodged in the top of his head and had several small lacerations to the back of his head.
The unidentified victim was taken to a local hospital. It is unclear whether his eye was saved.
Castaneda was charged with Mayhem, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Battery with Great Bodily Injury and Assault with BB Gun.
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