Bullet holes were found in cars on Wilson Avenue in Lincoln Square. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Patty Wetli

LINCOLN SQUARE — Bullet-ridden cars found Wednesday in Lincoln Square near Sunnyside and Rockwell were actually the second case of shots fired in the area within three days, Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) confirmed.

Last weekend, bullets also pierced cars in the 2500 block of West Wilson Avenue across from Waters Elementary. One of the damaged autos was still parked on the street as of Thursday afternoon.

"It doesn't appear that any one person or any house was specifically targeted," Pawar said. "It just looked like a joy ride."

In response to both incidents, Pawar said he has requested that police beef up visible patrols and also deploy non-uniformed tactical officers to the area.

"The scariest part about all this ... it's so random," said the alderman.

Anyone could be sitting in their car at 1 a.m., coming home from an evening out or a late shift at work, he said.

"To go joy riding, like [a gun] is a toy — it's such a stupid behavior and such a dumb thing," said Pawar. "All it does is terrorize people."

The alderman urged residents to call police if they see or hear anything suspicious and to notify his office regarding chronic issues.

"If you're concerned about illicit activity or a problem house, please call the police or call us," he said. "When we have a problem building or establishment, we can take action."

Longer term, he said it's important for elected officials such as himself to continue to push for "common sense laws on guns."

"People who live in one of the safest neighborhoods wake up in the morning and go to their car and it's shot out," he said. "You feel like you can't get away from it."

"It's becoming ingrained in our culture — 'Yeah, there are guns and we need to figure out how to be OK with that,'" said Pawar. "It's depressing to think that when I was a kid we had tornado drills and now schools are practicing active shooter drills."

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: