A Pearl City family’s dogs were the apparent targets of what appeared to be a random pellet-gun shooting in their front lawn Tuesday, minutes after a similar shooting of a 13-year-old Highlands Intermediate School student at a bus stop in front of the school.

Police said they are investigating the cases as possible pellet-gun shootings, but are not sure if the two are related.

The student, a 13-year-old boy, was waiting at the bus stop at 1460 Hoolaulea St. when he was shot in the back, possibly by a pellet gun. Police said he received a 1-inch-wide bruise, but was not seriously injured.

Police suspect it was a possible pellet gun that was used by someone driving by and have opened a second-degree assault case. The boy did not see the car or the suspect since he had his back toward the street.

But Travis Nakamura, whose house is just minutes from the school, got a good look at a vehicle and two suspects who shot at his dogs.

He had just gotten home after 3 p.m. after picking up his daughter from school, and was washing the dishes when he heard their two dogs barking at a car that had stopped in the middle of the roadway.

“They rolled down the windows and brandished a gun,” he said.

He got a glimpse of the suspects, who appeared to be two high-school-age boys riding in an older model green Toyota Corolla or Tercel, with the paint peeling on the trunk.

He ran out after it, but was unable to get a good read on the old license plates.

Now he fears not just for his dogs, but for his family being in their front yard.

“I just worry about the pellet or bullet — it doesn’t matter — if it hit someone’s eye, the person could have been blinded. …That’s what makes me the most upset. There should be some accountability.

“I have no idea what the individuals would have to gain in shooting my dogs or shooting anyone, for that matter,” he said. “I would take it, it was random.”