Grandmother attacked with pumpkin after parking in front of man’s Pittsburgh home

PITTSBURGH — A man threw a pumpkin at a woman’s head after she parked in front of his family’s home Wednesday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood, police said.

A grandmother is on the mend after a Bloomfield man allegedly threw a pumpkin at her for parking in front of his home.

James Gazis, 40, has been charged with aggravated assault for the incident, which happened shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on Pearl Street.

According to a criminal complaint, the victim was picking up her grandson at a nearby home, and parked in front of Gazis’ property.

Gazis’ wife and child were apparently crossing the street when they began screaming at the grandmother, claiming she had almost hit them and should have parked elsewhere.

That was when Gazis allegedly came out and hurled a white pumpkin at the vehicle. Channel 11 saw the cracked gourd on the sidewalk Thursday morning.

We spoke with the victim’s son, James Moore, who described how Gazis apparently didn’t stop with one pumpkin.

“She put her window down and looked up at the gentleman, and said ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ and he took the second pumpkin, threw it, it went through the window that was already down, hit her in the face. She wears glasses, [the impact] knocked the glasses into her nose, causing a cut.”

Moore said his mother panicked and called him from the car. He had been at home nearby and quickly ran out.

“She was shaking, she was holding her face, and she said ‘this man just threw a pumpkin at me, he just threw a pumpkin at me, call 911, call 911.’”

Moore confronted Gazis, and a physical altercation resulted. Neighbors apparently helped to break things up, Moore said, and police arrived at the scene.

Moore is facing a simple assault charge for his role in the fight.

“I felt bad for how things happened but at the same time, that’s still my elderly mother,” he told us.

Moore said he and Gazis didn’t know each other and never had any problem prior to the pumpkin assault.

We knocked on Gazis’ door Thursday morning. He answered, but declined comment.

According to the criminal complaint, video surveillance captured the incident and revealed that Gazis’ wife and child were never actually in danger of being hit by the victim’s vehicle.

Moore said his mother suffered a concussion. While parking has always been contentious in Bloomfield, Moore told us he never expected something like this to happen.

“It’s just crazy how quickly things escalate.”

The driver told police she parked a few doors down from her son’s home, where she was going to pick up her grandchild. That’s when Gazis’ wife started yelling because the car was parked in front of their home.

The driver’s son confronted Gazis after Gazis threw the pumpkins at his mother. The two men got into a fistfight, police said.

Gazis was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and propulsion of missiles.

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