Rep. Lee Zeldin speaks out after two teens were shot outside his home
New York gubernatorial candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin says the ongoing crime crisis hits 'extremely close to home' after the Sunday night shooting that took place while his daughters were home alone.
The two teens shot outside Rep. Lee Zeldin’s home while the Republican candidate for governor of New York's twin daughters were home alone have been identified, according to a report.
The New York Post first identified the teen victims Monday as Joel Murphy and Elijah Robinson, both 17-year-olds from Mastic, on New York’s Long Island. The Suffolk County Police Department declined to confirm the identities of the victims to Fox News Digital when contacted by phone about the report.
Both teen victims suffered gunshot wounds to the chest in the shooting in Shirley, the Post said, citing police, noting that Murphy also reportedly suffered a lacerated liver while Robinson sustained an arm wound.
According to the report, a "high-ranking" law enforcement source said the teen victims were "known to the department" and had been at a recording studio on a reservation in Suffolk County that is known for gang activity.
New York GOP candidate for governor Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. said that the crime crisis in New York is hitting "close to home" after two people were shot just outside his house on Sunday afternoon. (Fox News)
No arrests have immediately been announced in connection to the shooting.
The source told the Post investigators were looking into whether the drive-by shooting was gang-related and stemmed from an argument at the recording studio that first ignited on Saturday night.
In an appearance on Fox & Friends Monday morning, Zeldin, challenging New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in the November election, recounted how his twin 16-year-old daughters, Mikayla and Ariana, were downstairs doing homework at the kitchen table when they heard "multiple gunshots" and screaming, ran upstairs and locked themselves in a bathroom. He said one of his daughters dialed 911.
Zeldin and his wife had already left home to attend a Columbus Day parade in the Bronx.
"It really freaked them out," Zeldin said of his daughters. "This is something where you had two people who got shot who were essentially laying down about ten feet from where they were doing homework. One of the bullets landed about 30 feet from where the girls were doing homework."
Suffolk County Police told Fox News that the shooting outside Rep. Lee Zeldin's, R-N.Y., home happened around 2:20 p.m. on Sunday in Shirley on Long Island. (Fox News)
"I really am grateful for how swift and smartly the girls responded," Zeldin added. "Unfortunately for New Yorkers, this wasn't the only story yesterday. You're also reading about somebody else who got stabbed on a New York City subway, somebody else who got slashed in the East Village. I mean, this is day after day after day. And there are a lot of parents, there are a lot of families dealing with this reality of rising crime in New York for us."
Zeldin said he has not been notified regarding whom the suspected gunman or gunmen might be or what the potential motive is. But a review of his home security footage showed one wounded victim "laying down underneath our porch," another person shot "laying down under a bush in front of our porch just a couple of feet away" and a third person "moving all around the property up and down the porch a couple of times through the front yard" coming across all four cameras. Vehicles were seen passing by.
New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin speaks at a "Moms 4Zeldin" town hall on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on October 7, 2022. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
"And we don't live in some huge house with, you know, this isn't a gated community," Zeldin said. "This was something that happened really just feet from where they were sitting."
Zeldin also rejected criticism that he was using the shooting to campaign.
"I don't know if Newsday has actually said anything negative about Kathy Hochul ever. I'm not sure. Maybe they have," Zeldin said. "But the reality right now in this state is that New Yorkers don't feel safe. Even the former Democratic governor, David Paterson, Democratic governor, was making statements in an interview over the weekend about even in the eighties and nineties he didn't feel as unsafe as he does right now."
