Port Jefferson Man Gets 40-Year Prison Sentence For Fatal Shooting: DA

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — A 20-year-old Port Jefferson man was sentenced to 40 years to life for fatally shooting a man on a busy village street in broad daylight during an argument, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office said Monday.

At about 3:30 p.m. on March 24, 2021, Joseph Garcia shot 25-year-old Shirley resident David Bliss once in the abdomen, causing his death within minutes, in Port Jefferson, prosecutors said, adding that the two did not know each other, "but had gotten into a verbal dispute with him while Bliss was walking on Main Street to pick up a pizza."

Multiple video sources captured the shooting, showing Garcia deliberately firing the gun at Bliss and then tried to pull the trigger at least another two times before the gun "apparently jammed," prosecutors said.

Garcia and his friends left the scene of the shooting in a vehicle and went to a
Setauket home equipped with video surveillance that, when reviewed, "showed Garcia laughing and joking about the shooting," according to prosecutors.

In the audio from the video, Garcia can be heard admitting to the shooting and making plans to leave the jurisdiction to avoid capture.

Garcia, 20, was convicted April 7 of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal contempt after a jury trial.

Tierney called Bliss' murder a "senseless act of violence" sparked by an argument and noted Garcia "later joked about it as if the life of the victim had no value."

“Certainly, this sentence is no laughing matter and now the defendant has decades to think about what he has done while he faces responsibility for his actions," he added.

Judge Tim Mazzei sentenced Garcia to 25 years to life for murder, plus an additional 15 years for criminal possession of a weapon, as well as one concurrent year on the criminal contempt.

Garcia's attorney, George Duncan of Islip Terrace, told Patch that his client maintains his innocence and plans to appeal.

Michael DeSantis contributed additional reporting to this story.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.