A Bloods gang beef may have led to the shooting outside the Long Island home of gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, law enforcement sources said Monday, as the brother of one of the targets admitted he first thought the his brother was joking about the shooting.
Neighbors also described the pandemonium that broke out, with one of the victims crying and shouting: ‘Oh my God!’ while bullets flew down typically bucolic Shirley Street at around 2.20pm on Sunday, wounding two teenagers.
“We didn’t believe it at first,” Tyvon Smith, 26, told The Post about his 15-year-old brother, Tyler, who was among three teenagers apparently attacked in the bloody, possibly gang-related .
“Tyler came in shock,” Smith said of the moment his brother, a high school sophomore, approached him after the shooting.
“He was crying, saying that his friends, his brothers, shot them. He said they were shooting at him too. They were driving and they just got shot at, and Tyler was lucky.
“We didn’t believe it at first,” Tyvon Smith, 26, told The Post about his brother, Tyler, who was among three teenagers apparently attacked in the bloody, possibly gang-related, shooting.
“I said I was kidding, just kidding, just playing too many video games,” Smith said.
Neighbors also described the pandemonium that erupted, with someone crying and shouting, “Oh my God! — as bullets flew down typically bucolic Shirley Street.Edmund J Coppa
Smith said his brother and two friends were “walking toward the store” when the gunfire rang out.
“Maybe he had a problem with somebody, they saw him and they shot him,” he said of his brother. “I’m glad I didn’t get hit.”
A neighbor recounted the terrifying moment the shots rang out.
According to police, two people were shot during the commotion on Sunday. Gregory P. Mango
“I heard the shots, seven to nine, and I went into my daughter’s room,” Tonya Vasquez, who lives across the street, told The Post.
“I heard the screams, a young man’s voice screaming, ‘Call 911! Call 911!’ She was just crying and screaming, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!'” she said.
“He ran to the corner, and the heavier kid came out near the stop sign,” Vasquez, 37, said. “My daughter was yelling at me: ‘Don’t go out! Don’t go out there!’
“One thin and tall, and the other a little thick. The thinner boy was wearing black jeans and a red cloth on his head. The heavier boy was wearing a white T-shirt. He was shouting on the phone.”
Zeldin, a 46-year-old congressman who has campaigned for governor on a tough-on-crime platform, said Monday that his twin 16-year-old daughters, who were home alone at the time of the shooting, are still “beautiful.” . shaken”.
Law enforcement sources said the shooting may be gang-related, but have released few details of what motivated it. Edmund J Coppa
“My daughters ended up sleeping with my wife and I, all four of us in the bedroom last night,” he said outside Shirley’s house. “That was a lot for them to experience.”
Suffolk County police said three teenagers were walking on Saint George Drive West around 2:19 p.m. Sunday when “a dark-colored vehicle” drove by “and an occupant fired multiple shots through the window of the vehicle.”
Two of the teenagers, Joel Murphy and Elijah Robinson, both 17, were injured after fleeing into Zeldin’s yard, with one tripping over a Zeldin campaign sign.
Zeldin said Monday that her twin 16-year-old daughters, who were home alone at the time of the shooting, are still “very shaken up.” Gregory P. Mango
Law enforcement sources said the shooting may be gang-related, but have released few details of what motivated it.
“This is an unfortunate incident,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Monday morning. “The two shot victims were both 17 years old. One round hit Congressman Zeldin’s residence. His daughters were here and rightly shaken.
“I see too many guns on the streets that’s going on,” Harrison said. “We need to get the guns out of these people’s hands.”
Suffolk County police said three teenagers were walking on Saint George Drive West around 2:19 p.m. Sunday when “a dark-colored vehicle” drove by “and an occupant fired multiple shots.”
Zeldin, a Republican, has represented District 1 in the House of Representatives since 2015 and is challenging Gov. Kathy Hochul for her seat in November.
Zeldin has campaigned largely on a tough-on-crime platform and has come out in opposition to the state’s 2019 bail reform measures.
On Monday, Hochul said she was glad Zeldin’s family was not hurt.
“I’m very glad the family is safe,” the governor said. “It’s a reminder that we have to work together to get guns off the streets.”
Additional reporting by Haley Brown