El Paso man hit in face with pellet while walking dog

An east El Paso man says “it could’ve been worse,” after being struck in the face with a pellet while walking his dog in his neighborhood. He’s now asking his neighbors to stay vigilant.

Mark Lozano said it happened near Album Park by Chezelle Dr. on April 4.

He said one pellet grazed his cheek and got lodged in the cartilage between his nostrils. Another pellet grazed his back.

“All of a sudden I felt like a rock hit me in the face, so I looked down and I was bleeding,” Lozano said.

Lozano said he didn’t see who shot the pellets at him. He filed an incident report with El Paso Police, and it wasn’t until he got at CAT scan at the hospital, that doctors discovered a hollow point pellet still in his nose.

El Paso Police Spokesman Sgt. Enrique Carrillo said police are investigating this case as an isolated incident. He said they do not know if the shooting was intentional, or an accident. If it was intentional, he said whoever is responsible could possibly face aggravated assault charges.

Richard Garcia, director of training at Sportsman’s Elite, said pellet guns can shoot about 1,200 feet per second, compared to a BB gun that can fire a couple hundred feet per second. He said handling a pellet gun needs to be taken very seriously.

“It could do a lot of damage,” Garcia said. “It’s not something that you would consider, maybe growing up, if you had the opportunity to play with air soft, which is kind of like a plastic BB. This is on a completely different level. This is closer maybe to a .22 caliber rifle in regards to the velocity it can create, as well as the weight of the projectile. So it is something that can turn very dangerous if treated negligently.”

“I’m glad I’m still here and it could’ve been worse,” Lozano said. “And God’s with me. Thank God.”