by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Police are hunting for a sniper shooting people randomly in Little Burgundy.

I'm not talking figuratively, like some tricky artsy writing - I'm talking about a nutcase shooting anybody who walks by with an airgun.

The gunman has been taking aim at passersby with a pellet gun, then flees into darkness.

Coursol Avenue - from its mouth at Atwater to its final destination at Campbell Park - is the jewel of Little Burgundy. Pretty townhouses built long ago for black railway workers now sit painted purple and red next to fat-stemmed trees. A leafy canopy covers a sidewalk quiet enough to hear the flowers sprout up.

I always thought it'd be a nice place to live, and one could be mistaken for not imagining it as another Sarajevo with craftily hidden snipers pegging off passersby.

On Wednesday, July 21 around 10:30 p.m., while biking along the avenue between Georges-Vanier and Dominion, a St-Henri resident whom we'll call Jean-Luc - he doesn't want to use his real name for fear of freaking out his nervous mother - found himself in range of the gunman.

"I was with a friend from out of town when I heard a noise and people sitting on their stoops told me I was shot. So we hid behind a van while I inspected my leg. Somebody called the police and got a flashlight to take a look to see if it was serious. It was hard to tell at first," says Jean-Luc.

The victim - whom I first met about 20 years ago - oozes politeness and kindness from the second you see him. They couldn't have chosen a nicer, more likeable guy to shoot.

The shot, taken from behind, hit the rider on the right buttock area. "The ambulance guy told me it could have been very serious had the sniper been closer. It could have gone deeper into the muscle or hit my spine or temple or neck. But luckily it just broke skin. He told me that this is a gun that you can purchase at Wal-Mart for $200 and that it looks a lot like a regular .22," he says.

"The neighbours were angry and it was clear that the police really wanted to catch this guy."

Within minutes, an assortment of plainclothes and uniformed cops swooped down, their arrival swift because they're staking out the area in hopes of catching the shooter. "There's an ongoing investigation with special agents on the case," says police rep Guy Coupal. "Some people have been injured by these attacks so for sure it's a high priority for the Montreal police."

Coupal wouldn't elaborate on any other shootings because it's an ongoing investigation, but cops are taking it seriously enough to have the victim return to the spot where he was hit so they could judge the trajectory and figure where the shot came from.

The Burgundy sniper remains at large.

I went down to the area under the cover of daylight to find the shooter, possibly disarm him with wit or guilt. Maybe I'd shame him into surrendering.

The residents I spoke to hadn't heard of the incidents, but they all confessed to hearing a lot of popping sounds. One thought it was kids with cap guns and another figured it was workers with a nail gun.

They conceded that perhaps it was the mad sniper.

My quest was stalled when an 81-year-old gentleman waved me over to his porch where he showed me his photo album containing some of his "888,888,888-plus one photos." The resident is a local character named Leeroy "The Happy Wanderer" Edwards, an actor, poet and 47-year resident of the street. In the course of an hour this guy must have spoken 42,000 words, many thousand being Shakespeare quotes and alliterative adjectives describing his philosophy, his past as an actor and his experiences as a WWII British navy man.

A fascinating man and an enjoyable visit, although it clearly interrupted my manhunt.

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