1 Arrest Made In Connection Shooting At LIRR Station: Police

JAMAICA, NY — Investigators have arrested a man in connection with the shooting of a teen and a 40-year-old man at the Long Island Rail Road station in Bellport last week, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Thomas Taffe said.

Jahmez Cureton, 19, of Wyandanch, was arrested on charges of attempted murder, as well as second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to an MTA spokeswoman.

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Cureton pleaded not guilty and was remanded to jail without bail at his arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday, online court records show. Patch has reached out to his attorney, Peter Mayer of Hauppauge, for comment.

He is due to appear in court again next Monday, the records show.

Police say that around 2:25 a.m. on Oct. 9, four males were exiting a train and a suspect fired a gun, striking a 17-year-old, who was getting off the train, in the shoulder, and the bullet then struck a 40-year-old man getting on the train, Taffe said.

The 40-year-old man, who is from Bellport, stayed on the train until the next stop at Mastic-Shirley, where he was taken to the hospital for treatment and released, but charged in an unrelated warrant, according to Taffe. The warrant was for failure to appear in court on a grand larceny charge out of Patchogue for stealing a bicycle from a commuter, police said.

The 17-year-old, who was the intended target of the shooting, fled the scene, but was apprehended on an unrelated out-of-state warrant on Tuesday with an untreated shoulder wound, according to police.

"We believe it's in connection with a dispute over a female, and at this stage, we're keeping a lot of those details appropriately limited because it's preliminary," he said.

Three additional suspects are involved in the incident and have been identified, and the MTA's investigators are coordinating with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office to identify their roles and determine the appropriate charges, if any, according to Taffe.

"It's important to emphasize that this event stems from an off-property dispute," he said. "The individuals that we're talking about are all known to the agency and have prior records. This occurred at 2 a.m. in an outer Suffolk County station, and it's not reflective of the experience of the average commuter."

The investigation was a collaboration between the MTA, Suffolk police and the DA's office, and "remains active," with detectives pursuing "all leads," according to Taffe.

"It's also important to mention that the MTA's investment in an extensive and sophisticated camera system played a critical role in this case, and plays a critical role in most of our cases," he said. "Many people do not get away because of that camera system."