Ugliness Rears Its, Uh, Ugly Head

A roving band of “ugly girls” is terrorizing Prospect Heights:

In at least three instances over the past two months, a group of adolescents headed by one or two young girls has approached pedestrians and either hit them over the head with a blunt object or pointed what looked to be a toy gun in their direction.

The perpetrators demanded nothing. Indeed, they appeared to have no motive beyond the sheer fun of harassing pedestrians, according to victims and the police.

. . .

“They literally came out of nowhere,” said Jess Eddy, a 29-year-old graphic designer who was only two blocks from home when she was assaulted on May 15 at about 10 pm.

“I was on Prospect Place, near Vanderbilt Avenue, when I got struck on the head from behind,” she said. “I turned around, and there were six to eight kids, with two little girls in front, who were between 12 and 13 years old.

“They were waiting for me to do something. I was taken aback. I mean, the normal reaction is to attack, but they were so young, and girls.”

After hesitating, Eddy rushed at the girls, prompting a counter-attack by two slightly older boys who had been lurking in the background.

When they tried to hit Eddy on the head, she yelled “like a crazy woman,” and one of the boys pulled out a small silver gun that Eddy presumed was a toy because of its size and the boy’s age. Eddy fled across the street. The kids ran in the opposite direction.

. . .

The third assault occurred about two months ago to a man named Raymond Alberts and his wife as they were walking along St. Marks Place between Classon and Grand avenues.

“As we were walking, we saw a kid hiding behind a Dumpster,” Alberts told The [Brooklyn] Paper. “My wife says, ‘He’s got a gun.'”

Alberts, 56, estimated the kid was between 13 and 17 years old. He was accompanied by an “overweight boy” of about the same age.

“I turn around, and he points the silver gun at me . . . We kept on walking . . . He was just smiling.”

Alberts promptly reported the incident to the cops, who sent out an officer to investigate.

“He comes back and says it was a toy gun, and he said it wasn’t a boy, it was an ugly girl,” said Alberts.