Developing: Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad investigating death in Greenport

Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the July 3 death of a man in Greenport.

Modesto Salguero-Guillen, 48, was found seriously injured at the Lakeside Garden Apartments on North Street June 30 at approximately 4:15 p.m. He was transported to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, where he died July 3.

Neighbors in the complex were stunned and unnerved to learn of the investigation, and said the incident remains a mystery to them.  

“We were completely shocked,” said Wendy Contrersas, one of several longtime residents who said they were interviewed by police on Monday, but had little information to share with authorities. “We didn’t know the man.”

“We never saw this coming,” she said. “This is a really secure, really friendly place.”

The apartment where Mr. Salguero-Guillen was discovered sits on the far edge of the complex facing a fence, in a single-story, standalone unit separated from several other units on the property by sidewalks that connect the buildings.   

Ms. Contreras said she and a group of her extended family were having a holiday celebration in the complex’s parking lot when police arrived to question residents.

“It was horrible,” said her son, Jeshua Contreras, 16. “I couldn’t sleep last night. This place that you’ve known, where you’ve grown up, you’ve come to know everybody here and all of the sudden, somebody dies and now people are pointing fingers,” he said, “and you don’t know who to believe. I’m hearing one thing from someone another from another person but that’s all talk.”

The young man said the rumors he had heard were based purely on speculation by agitated residents.

“Nobody knows anything right now,” he said.

Resident Frances Ortiz said she has been living in her apartment for more than 20 years.

“It’s weird,” she said of the homicide investigation. “It gives me the willies.”

“It’s very sad that something like that would happen here in this complex,” she said. “Everybody is friendly with each other.” Neither Ms. Ortiz nor any of the half dozen residents interviewed on Tuesday could recall the last time police were called to the apartment complex for a serious crime.

Hanson Postwaite, who lives in the same section of the complex where the injured man was discovered, said Tuesday was “chaotic,” and that police were on hand for nine hours conducting interviews.

Mr. Postwaite, who said he is partially paralyzed, told the Suffolk Times he didn’t know the deceased man and tends to keep to himself.

“I didn’t hear anything and I didn’t see anything,” he said.

Suffolk County Police Detective Sgt. Stephen Guyer, who was stationed at the apartment complex on Tuesday, declined comment, but confirmed he was on hand as part of the ongoing investigation.

This story is developing and will be updated.