Residents in Ellenville are reaching out to News 12 for help with a group of children they say are repeatedly committing crimes and “terrorizing” the community.

Ellenville Police Chief Phillip Mattracion says about six kids between the ages of 10 and 14 have been involved in dozens of incidents since last year. He says some are minor, like throwing eggs at houses or breaking glass on the street, but others are more severe and have resulted in criminal charges.

In one instance last month, Mattracion says, “They ended up pulling a knife on one of the business owners here and then the other kid had brass knuckles, threatening the business owner and his family over asking him to clean up something they dropped on the ground.”

Authorities say three of the youth were charged in that incident with menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. The case is being handled in family court due to their ages.

The victim in that instance reached out to News 12 for help but didn’t want to be interviewed. Residents have also come forward too in neighborhoods where the children are accused of breaking windows or throwing eggs.

Police say in some of the instances, people are also hesitant to press charges – which make the cases difficult to pursue.

Officials say last summer, the kids allegedly shot Orby guns, that were painted black and looked like real guns, at each other and people nearby on Canal Street.

“That came through as shots fired outside of a restaurant,” says Mattracion. “They are perfectly identifiable until you paint them all black and make them look like a real gun. That’s the problem we had.”

Another incident happened earlier this month when police say one of the teens tried to get into a school district building that they weren’t supposed to be in, resulting in a lockout at Ellenville middle and high schools.

Mattracion says many of the incidents are considered violations that kids can’t be charged for by law. In other cases, the children have been referred to family court and child protective services for supervision. The chief says officials have also tried to help the families and kids.

“We are doing what we can. We don’t make the laws, we enforce them. We’ve brough the parents in; we brought the kids in in a couple of cases. We also tried to mentor them,” Mattracion says. “In some of the cases, the kids have significant mental health needs that really requires significant intervention.”

Authorities say they’ve reached out to other government and non-profit agencies for assistance and are coordinating their efforts to crack down on the occurrences and help the children with mental health resources and school resource officers.