3 Arrested After 2 Shot Outside LI Lidl: PD; Shopper 'Horrified'

CENTER MORICHES, NY — Three men were arrested after a shooting in the parking lot outside a Lidl supermarket in Center Moriches Sunday, police said.

According to Suffolk County Police, the incident took place outside the store, located at 812 Montauk Highway, at 4:05 p.m., when, following a verbal altercation, two men shot each other.

Both were transported to local hospitals for treatment, one for critical injuries and one for serious injuries, police said.

Two other men, who were with them during the shooting, fled the scene and were later apprehended in the vicinity of the incident, police said. Three of the men were charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

The two men who were not injured were held overnight at the Third Precinct and are scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Monday, police said.

Katie Germer, who had her fiance's children with her, was about to begin shopping at Lidl Sunday when the shooting took place. "In all my 26 years of my life, I've never heard a gunshot," she wrote on Facebook. "I'm horrified."

Describing the scene, she said: "I heard, 'bang, bang, bang bang', and a lady yelling 'no, no, no!' as I was walking toward the supermarket. I watched four guys sprinting through the parking lot. I was staring back at the car; they just left the doors wide open."

Lidl employees, she said, were "pushing everyone into the store and pushing them away from the windows — locking the store down," she said.

She called her fiance Jesse and said, "Those were gunshots." He suggested that maybe they were fireworks but Germer said, "No, they were gunshots."

After the incident, she added: "I am disgusted, sad, angry. I'm relieved that my family and I are okay but I'm so upset that our children had to hear this so young."

Her fiance, she said, tried to calm her. "He told me, 'Slow down, it's okay.' I was choking on my words and I said, 'It's not okay. I have your children in my car. I need to get them out of here.' I cried until we were safe and out of the area."

Montauk Highway was initially closed in Center Moriches between Belleview Avenue and Mill Pond Lane for the investigation Sunday afternoon, police said.

Additionally, the area surrounding the supermarket was also closed, police said.

William Harwood, a representative for Lidl, issued a statement after the shooting: "At Lidl, the health and safety of our team members and customers is our top priority. This afternoon, we were informed about a criminal incident that occurred in the area surrounding our store. In coordination with local authorities and in support of their investigation, we have closed our store for the remainder of the day. We will continue to fully support the Suffolk County Police Department as they conduct their investigation."