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Brent Teft, of Camillus, sights in the scope on his Savage .270 Winchester rifle at Camillus Sportsmen's Club's public sight-in weekend in 2011 just prior to the deer hunting season.

(Peter Chen | pchen@syracuse.com)

Camillus - The rifle range at the Camillus Sportsmen's Club has been closed until further notice as police investigate complaints that stray rounds may have struck nearby homes.

"We were asked in pretty strong terms to close the range down and we did yesterday," said Bill Parfitt, the club's president said this morning. "We are in full cooperation mode."

The length of closure of the rifle range is unknown at this time. Several shooting leagues and upcoming tournaments that use the range have been cancelled at this point.

Meanwhile. the club's indoor, pistol and shotgun ranges remain open, Parfitt said. Rounds from those firearms do not travel as far in most cases as those from a rifle.

Complaints about alleged stray rounds from the rifle range surfaced Tuesday afternoon at a town meeting. Residents from the nearby Viewpoint Estates development voiced concerns about bullets hitting their homes. It was noted that Camillus Town Police have received three reports of bullets hitting homes in the development in the past and that a fourth complaint was received last week, WSYR reported.

Town and state police have been trying to figure out the source of the bullets. By using the angles of a bullet hole investigators came up with several possibilities including a straight line leading back to the club's shooting range. It's also possible that someone fired the shot from behind the club, said Camillus Police Chief Thomas Winn.

"We are not here to say that these rounds were definitively shot from the Camillus Sportsmen's Club, but it's a high probability that they were," said Winn, according to WSYR.

Win asked residents in the Viewpoint Estates area to check their residences for possible bullet holes. If any are found, call the Camillus Police Department at 487-0102.