Police detain suspect in arrow attack

Police think they have their bowman.

Investigators have taken a 27-year-old Riverdale man into custody for allegedly firing an arrow into a woman’s belly outside Schervier Nursing Care Center Sunday afternoon, a police source said.

Eric Collins was interviewed at the 50th precinct shortly after 10 p.m. and is expected to be charged in the attack. Mr. Collins had recently moved into a small home at 3001 Independence Ave., right next door to the care center. The house is owned by his grandparents. Investigators believe he fired the arrow through the fence that separates his home from Schervier.

The bolt pierced a hole in the fence before striking Denise Delgado-Brown. She was hit in the stomach by the fiberglass, professional-grade, 30-inch arrow, which had a rounded practice tip.

Detectives originally thought the arrow might have been fired from a rooftop as far as 300 yards away. In fact, the space between the fence and the front of Schervier appeared to be just a stone’s throw.

Ms. Delgado-Brown suffered serious injuries but has been released from St. Barnabas Hospital.

— By Kevin Deutsch and Kate Pastor