LI Man Given 12 Years For Shooting, Barely Missing a 3-Year-Old: DA

BAY SHORE, NY — A Bay Shore man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Wednesday, after shooting multiple bullets in a home that contained children — and barely missed a three-year-old boy — Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said.

Robert Oliver, 43, also received five years of post-release supervision, before the Honorable Timothy P. Mazzei.

In February 2022, Oliver pleaded guilty to the following charges:

• Two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment.
• One count of first-degree unlawful imprisonment.
• One count of second-degree aggravated harassment.
• Four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
• Second-degree kidnapping
• Two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

On November 14, 2020, Oliver shot multiple bullets into a home which he knew contained four children and two adults. One of the bullets missed a three-year-old boy by inches and lodged in a kitchen stove, prosecutors said.

He had come to the residence earlier in the day looking for a resident’s uncle who did not live in the home. Oliver was seen minutes before the crime on video surveillance waving a gun around at
a deli, where he was looking for that same individual. Expended casings were recovered from that
crime scene, prosecutors said.

Then on January 8, 2021, Oliver forced a friend at gunpoint to drive him to a Bay Shore residence. He then shot at multiple homes — narrowly missing a resident of one — as well as into cars outside a second home.

Expended casings were also recovered from that crime scene, prosecutors said. Officials later found a Smith & Wesson 9mm caliber pistol in Oliver's home. The expended casings from both crime scenes were determined to have been fired from that weapon.

“The message in Suffolk County is clear - if you use a gun unlawfully against another person, your case will be investigated, you will be prosecuted and you will serve a significant sentence,” said Tierney. “Children should not have to go to bed worried that their sleep will be interrupted by gunfire. The jail sentence here is well deserved.”