A Mastic teenager was arraigned on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and assault for his role in a shooting early Friday morning that injured a Greenport man. READ
Tag: shooting
Update (5 p.m.): Two suspects were arraigned in connection to the shooting. Read more here.
Update (3:30 p.m.): The teenager shot early Friday morning is listed as stable, alert and responsive, according to a message from Superintendent David Gamberg. READ
A Mattituck man arrested in connection with a gunshot incident that put nearby Mattituck High School on lockdown last October pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor charge and was fined, according a Southold Town court clerk. READ
A 28-year-old man was arraigned on a misdemeanor weapons charge Friday for allegedly firing a shotgun on his property near Mattituck High School last month.
The gunshots led school officials to clear the campus until police could search the area. READ
Albino Dejesus Medina is led out of Southold Town Court Friday morning. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
Update: Albino Dejesus Medina of Bay Shore, a 20-year-old man arrested last week for his alleged involvement in two separate shootings in Southold and Riverhead towns, has been indicted by a grand jury.
Charges against Mr. Medina filed in Southold Town were dropped Friday, court records show.
Mr. Medina was initially charged in Southold with three counts of assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in relation to a gang-related shooting on South Harbor Road in Southold Oct. 14, authorities said.
Riverhead Police then charged Mr. Medina, an alleged MS-13 member, in connection with an Oct. 10 shooting that left a 19-year-old Riverhead shot twice in the back as he was walking home on East Avenue.
The indictment will be unsealed during an arraignment for Mr. Medina in country criminal court.
Mr. Medina is due in Suffolk County Court before Judge William Condon on Tuesday, Nov. 25, records show.
Prior coverage: Riverhead Town police say one of the five men in custody following a gang-related shooting in Southold last month is one of the same men responsible for a shooting in Riverhead that occurred just days before.
Albino Dejesus Medina, 20, of Bay Shore was arrested Wednesday in connection with an Oct. 10 shooting that left a 19-year-old Riverhead shot twice in the back as he was walking home on East Avenue.
Albino Dejesus Medina is led out of Southold Town Court Friday morning. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
The fifth suspect arrested following last month’s shooting — said by police to be gang-related — is being held on $250,000 cash bail, awaiting word of a grand jury incitement.
Albino Dejesus Medina, 20, of Bay Shore was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon, police said.
He had been taken into custody Thursday with the assistance of U.S. Marshals, the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Riverhead police. He was brought into Southold Town Court for arraignment Thursday morning. He requested a lawyer and the arraignment was pushed back to this morning.
During his arraignment Friday morning, Mr. Medina’s attorney said at the time of the incident, Medina had been living on Third Street in Greenport as he had been working on a landscaping project in the area.
Police allege that Mr. Medina is a member of the MS-13 gang, which according to police, carried out a shooting against rival members of Mara 18, a rival gang, in the middle of October. In the wake of the shooting, Southold Police arrested three people the day after the shooting, and a fourth two days after that.
The first four men arrested were: Pedro Emilio Santamaria, 31 of Greenport; Jeremias Nathanael Recinos Torres, 19, of Aquebogue;Freddie Fernando Torres Campos, 16, of Southold and Walter Vasquez, 17, of Greenport, who all allegedly took part in an attack that left two men shot. They’ve all been indicted and arraigned on violent felony charges of assault and gang assault.
One of those men was shot multiple and also slashed with a machete. One of the alleged assailants, Mr. Vasquez, was also shot by friendly fire, police have said.
Mr. Medina is being held on $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond, and is expected back in court Monday.
Southold shooting suspects (from left) Walter Vasquez, 17, of Greenport; Pedro Emilio Santamaria, 31, of Greenport; and Jeremias Nathaniel Recinos Torres, 19, of Aquebogue are escorted by corrections officers into Southold Town Court Friday morning. The three were arraigned in Suffolk County court Wednesday. (Credit: Paul Squire)
A fifth man is currently being sought by police for his alleged role in last Tuesday’s shooting in Southold, a Suffolk prosecutor said Wednesday during the arraignments of three men accused in the attack.
A total of four men so far have been arrested by police. They’ve all been indicted and arraigned on violent felony charges of assault and gang assault.
They are all being held in county jail on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond. (more…)
Police lead shooting suspect Freddie Fernando Torres Campos into Southold Town Justice Court Friday morning for his arraignment. (Credit: Paul Squire)
Freddie Fernando Torres Campos, a 16-year-old accused of taking part in Tuesday morning’s shooting in Southold, has been ordered held on $250,000 cash bail after his arraignment in court Friday.
Mr. Campos — who was lead into court on crutches wearing a cast on his left foot where he was allegedly shot by another suspect while taking part in the attack — was arrested on Wednesday charged with two counts of felony assault.
The 16-year-old’s defense attorney, Eric Bessa, said the teen was an undocumented immigrant who worked as a landscaper and who had been living in the area for a year. He had asked for lower bail to be set, but Suffolk County prosecutor Timothy McNulty said the “serious allegations and the strength of the people’s case” warranted higher bail.
Mr. Bessa later declined to comment on the case. A woman who was in court and who spoke with Mr. Bessa after the arraignment told a Suffolk Times reporter that she wasn’t related to the case and declined further comment.
Justice Rudolph Bruer set bail at $250,000 cash or $750,000 bond and issued two stay-away orders to protect the two victims in the shooting. Mr. Campos is due back in court on Oct. 22.
The three other suspects in the shooting appeared in Southold Town court Friday morning and had their cases adjourned to next week. Attorneys said the cases will be presented before a grand jury for a possible indictment by Friday evening.
CYNDI MURRAY | Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Homicide Unit, addresses reporters at a press conference Wednesday.
Suffolk County police said at a press conference at headquarters Wednesday afternoon that they believe the Mattituck horse trainer shot and killed in Setauket Tuesday night was targeted – though a motive remains unclear at the moment.
Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the department’s homicide squad, said at the conference that “all options are on the table” as far as suspects go, though the shooter or shooters remained at large after the Tuesday night fatality.
Ross Reisner, 50, was shot in the chest while inside his home on Upper Sheep Pasture Road shortly after 8 p.m., police said. A resident of the home said the shot was fired from outside the home, through a window.
Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said a second victim was inside the house and was shot in the arm, though declined medical treatment. Police did not release the person’s name.
Sixth Precinct police officers responded to his Mr. Reisner’s home after a 911 caller reported that a man had been shot. He was transported to University Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
CARRIE MILLER PHOTO | Horses roam the grounds of Maple Lane Farm in Mattituck Wednesday.
Mr. Reisner trained at Maple Lane Farm on Cox Neck Road in Mattituck. Diane Nelson, who runs the farm said “it’s a somber day at the farm.”
Shanette Barth Cohen, executive director of The Hampton Classic Horse Show, said Reisner was trained in both children and adults and competed in what’s called hunter competition, putting it simply “the rider’s job is to make the horse look as nice as possible,” as opposed to show jumping which involved speed.
“He is certainly a well-known and much liked trainer on Long Island. He’s been involved in the community for more than 25 maybe 30 years. It’s such a shock and horrible tragedy. It’s a big loss for the horse community on Long Island,” she said.
“He was very well liked really a kind person to both the people in his life and the horses in his life, and he will really be missed.”
Detectives are asking anyone with information on this case to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
WHAM COURTESY PHOTO | The scene of a the fire Monday morning in Webster, N.Y., where two fire fighters were shot and killed and three other emergency responders were injured.
Reports that two firefighters were killed and two more were injured along with a police officer after a gunman shot them at the scene of a fire in upstate Webster came as particularly troubling news to local first responders this Christmas Eve.
“It’s especially bizarre because of this time of year,” said Southold police chief Martin Flatley. “There’s usually a lot of anger directed toward police officers because they make arrests and write tickets, but firefighters’ dealings with the public are usually to save lives, so that’s very unfortunate. ”
The shooting, which occurred after the fire was reported at 5:45 a.m., comes just 10 days after a gunman in Connecticut left 20 children and six adults dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It marks the fourth mass shooting in the U.S. this month.
Police in Webster, which is more than 400 miles from here in Rochester, say they believe the fire was intentionally set by the shooter.
“Volunteer firefighters and police officers were injured and two were taken from us as they once again answered the call of duty,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Monday.
The news hit close to home for volunteer firefighters like Dennis Hamill an ex-chief in Riverhead, who said the shooting puts local volunteers on high alert.
“We in Riverhead very rarely ever have had any trouble with people threatening our lives or any kind of violence,” said Mr. Hammill, chairman of Riverhead’s Board of Fire Commissioners. “But you just have to be very, very aware.
“You always have to keep it in the back of your mind. We have no answers for Connecticut. We can’t see in people’s heads. You just have to be aware of your circumstances.”
Chief Flatley said it was once common for NYPD officers to be dispatched to fire scenes specifically to protect firefighters at the scene in the rougher neighborhoods of New York City, but that’s not something done on the North Fork.
“There used to be random violence against firefighters in bad neighborhoods [in NYC],” he said. “But we’ve never had anything like that happen out here.”
Jim Lessard, an ex-chief in Mattituck, said Monday’s shooting strengthens the argument for stricter gun laws in America.
“At this point after what happened in Connecticut, as the president has indicated, something needs to be done,” Mr. Lessard said Monday. “I don’t care what the NRA says about the constitution. Slavery used to be in the constitution.”
On Friday, National Rifle Association president Wayne LaPierre called for more guns in the wake of last week’s shooting, proposing to put an armed guard in all schools to protect students and staff.
“To hell with the NRA, let’s fix these laws and enforce them,” Mr. Lessard said.
