A 39-year-old Mahopac man is accused of ordering two teenage boys to fight it out at Somers Commons, an altercation that left a 14-year-old with injuries serious enough to send him to the hospital. State Police arrested Evad Vucetovic and a second man, 37-year-old Carmel resident Alban Gjevukaj, on Friday, August 21, in connection with the incident at the Route 6 shopping plaza.
According to Daily Voice, the two Mahopac boys, ages 14 and 15, had an ongoing dispute that started as a verbal argument at Somers Commons on August 18. The next day, per police, that disagreement escalated into a physical fight at the same shopping center, and investigators allege the two men arrived at the scene after being contacted about the brewing conflict.
Police allege Vucetovic instructed the two teenagers to fight again to settle their dispute once things had already turned physical. During that second altercation, state police investigators allege Gjevukaj physically intervened by pulling a sweatshirt over the 14-year-old boy's head, according to reporting by WPDH. The 14-year-old suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the altercation, according to police.
How State Police Got Involved
New York State Police did not become involved until hours after the fight, when troopers were called to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla at approximately 1:34 a.m. on August 20 regarding the 14-year-old assault victim, per the same account. That hospital report set off the investigation that led back to Somers Commons and, ultimately, to the two men's arrests the following day.
The case was handled by the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation unit out of the SP Somers barracks, which operates within Troop K covering Westchester and the surrounding Hudson Valley region. Somers Commons itself is a 135,000-square-foot open-air shopping center anchored by a Stop & Shop, sitting near the border of Westchester and Putnam counties — a detail that underscores how close the Mahopac and Carmel-based defendants live to the site of the fight.
Charges Carry Very Different Weight
Vucetovic was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a Class A misdemeanor under New York Penal Law § 260.10 that can carry up to a year in local jail, up to three years of probation, and court fines. Gjevukaj, by contrast, was charged with second-degree harassment, which under Penal Law § 240.26 is a non-criminal violation rather than a crime, punishable by no more than 15 days in jail or a $250 fine.
Both men were arraigned in Somers Town Court following their arrests and released on their own recognizance without cash bail, the report notes. Neither has been held in custody pending further court proceedings.
Criminal arrests for endangering the welfare of a child in New York routinely trigger parallel child protective inquiries by Child Protective Services or county social service departments alongside the criminal case, though it remains unknown whether such a review has been opened in this matter. Other open questions — including what relationship, if any, either man has to the teenagers involved, and what connection exists between the two co-defendants — have not been addressed in available reporting.
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