NEW YORK – Man arrested last week in possession of the gun linked to a shooting outside Shirley’s home of Rep Lee Zeldin faced a judge on gun charges, but not the shooting itself.
Noah Green was indicted on Monday in connection with the October 9 shooting. The 18-year-old pleaded not guilty before a Suffolk County judge a week after he was charged and sentenced to a $ 750,000 cash bail.
Two 17-year-old boys were injured in the shooting. Zeldin, who is facing Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul in Tuesday’s election, wasn’t home when the shooting occurred, but said her teenage twin daughters were in the kitchen doing their homework and they heard gunshots and screams.
Prosecutors said law enforcement was conducting surveillance on Oct.31 when they observed Green getting into a stolen car. When the police tried to attack Green, the prosecutor’s office said, he tried to escape and then rummaged in his trouser pocket. Police arrested him and recovered a loaded 9mm pistol.
“[Green] He denies he was looking for a weapon. Let’s hope the cops were wearing body cameras, we’ll find out what’s true and what’s not, “said the 18-year-old’s lawyer, Christopher Cassar.
Authorities matched that gun to the October 9 shooting, matched Green’s fingerprints to the prints on the gun’s loaded magazine, and say that the stolen car he was caught in appears to match a car involved in the previous accident.
Green’s mother did not speak to reporters when she left court on Monday, referring to the family’s lawyer instead.
“There is a young man who has never been convicted of any crime, he is not charged with any kind of violence, he has not been charged with anything related to the October 9 shooting,” said attorney Christopher Cassar.
Law enforcement sources previously said the shooting appeared to be unrelated to the candidate for governor.
“The two people who were shot were lying under my porch and in the bushes in front of our porch,” Zeldin said in a statement at the time.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said the investigation was “far from over.”
Green is expected to return to court in late November.
