NEW YORK — New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin’s teen daughters recalled the heart-stopping fear they felt dialing 911 and racing to an upstairs bathroom as gunshots rang out near their Long Island home.
Twins Arianna and Mikayla Zeldin, both 16, recounted the harrowing incident Monday as they joined their father marching in Manhattan’s Columbus Day Parade.
“We heard screaming. We definitely knew that it was gunshots,” Arianna said. “When I saw a person on our lawn I didn’t know if he was the shooter or if he was the one getting targeted.
“So I quickly just grabbed the landline and I called 911,” she added.
The pair were doing homework at their kitchen table on Sunday afternoon inside the Shirley home when three teenagers walking along the tree-lined street were shot at from a moving car.
Two 17-year-olds, from Mastic and Mastic Beach, were struck by bullets and took cover in bushes and under the front porch of Zeldin’s home.
“It was very scary and we didn’t know if they were coming after us,” Mikayla said. “And to have that on our lawn, it’s like right in front of our house.”
Zeldin, a conservative Republican congressman running a tough-on-crime campaign against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in next month’s election, returned home with his wife shortly after the shooting.
“Law enforcement was telling us to be careful where we were walking because they were still finding blood,” he said. “I definitely did not think that the next time that I’d be standing in front of crime scene tape, it would be my own house.”
The victims were transported to local hospitals where they were being treated and the third teen ran from the scene, according to police.
Zeldin, who trails Hochul in most polls, said that security video from the home shows the two wounded teens running toward the house after being shot.
“So when they are lying down, they are already shot and that’s known because of the blood that was found in that area,” he said.
The lawmaker said he was happy to take part in the celebration of Italian heritage in Manhattan and to have his daughters with him following the frightening incident.
“When we left the home this morning, in a way, it was just good to get the girls out of the house,” he said. “It’s nice to just get their minds off this a bit as we’re walking the route today and to be here with a whole lot of other people who are in good spirits.”
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said that his department plans to flood the area around the home with officers as the investigation continues.
“I’m always concerned about retaliation, so putting this strike force together and grabbing officers throughout the county and kind of flooding them in a certain community is our M.O.,” Harrison told reporters near the Zeldin home Monday morning. “We always do that type of police work. We’re in the business of protecting the residents of Suffolk County.”
Officials said they don’t believe there is any connection between the shooting and the Zeldin family. Harrison said it was too early to tell if the drive-by may be gang-related.
“It’s still preliminary,” Harrison said, according to Newsday. “Have we seen some gang concerns out here in Shirley? Yes, we have. I can’t sit here and say that this is the motive for this shooting incident. But we’ll take a look at it.”
Hochul, who also marched in the parade on Monday, said she would make state police officials available to assist in the investigation.
“I’m so pleased that no one was injured, that the family is safe. We sent out a message right away: If they want any assistance from state police in the investigation,” she said. “And as a reminder we all have to work together to get guns off the street and so I will continue ... to do everything I can to ensure our streets are safe.”
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