N.Y. Sniper Strikes Again; Lone Gunman Is Suspected

A sniper who fires through the windows of late-night businesses on Long Island struck for a third time in two weeks, police said Thursday.

Police believe one person is responsible for the attacks, which have apparently targeted victims at random.

“Aspects of the ballistics give us cause to believe they may be connected,” said Detective Lt. John Gierasch, commander of Suffolk County homicide squad.

The sniper is using a high-powered rifle with a scope and firing at the targets from a distant wooded area, Gierasch said.

“These shots were very well placed,” he said. “They are accurate shots.”

Authorities said they have no motive for the shootings.

The latest attack came Wednesday night. A waitress inside a Burger King restaurant in Stony Brook was wounded by a bullet that came through the restaurant’s front window as she was cleaning tables, police said.

Kathryn A. Spatafora, 43, was in critical but stable condition at the University Medical Center on Thursday with a wound to her upper torso.

The previous two shootings occurred in Commack, 10 miles from Stony Brook, on July 22 and July 25, Gierasch said.

In the first case, a man was killed by a gunshot through a restaurant window as he sat in a booth having dinner with his wife. Four days later, at a gas station a quarter-mile away, an attendant escaped injury when a gunshot shattered but didn’t penetrate the service station’s bulletproof glass.

All three shootings took place between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Police have beefed up patrols in those areas.