A dispute among a group of young men outside a strip mall on New York Avenue in Huntington Station escalated into gunfire around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, sending nearby schools into lockdowns and lockouts that stretched for nearly two hours. Suffolk County police confirmed no injuries were reported in connection with the shooting, and investigators believe the individuals involved knew each other.
According to News12 Long Island, officers responded to reports of shots fired near the strip mall, where a local deli worker said teenagers had been fighting each other before the shooting began. Police cordoned off the strip mall as the investigation got underway. Jack Abrams STEM Magnet Intermediate School, located just blocks away on Lowndes Avenue, was placed under a full lockdown as a direct result of the shooting's proximity.
Jack Abrams serves roughly 430 students in grades 4 through 6 and sits within the Huntington Union Free School District, according to Public School Review. A parent letter cited by the same News12 report indicated that other schools within the district were also placed under lockout or lockdown protocols during the response.
Two Different Protocols, One Tense Morning
While Jack Abrams went into lockdown, officers separately responded to a police call near Old Field and Greenlawn roads, prompting the Harborfields Central School District to initiate a lockout of its own. The district says its resource officer noticed police activity near Oldfield Middle School and acted out of caution even though the incident was unrelated to the shooting on New York Avenue. The Harborfields lockout began at approximately 10:45 a.m. and was lifted around 12:30 p.m. once police cleared the scene.
The distinction between the two protocols matters. Under New York State Education Department guidance, a lockout, or secure, is used when a threat or police activity is happening outside school buildings — doors are locked, but classes continue inside — while a lockdown halts all indoor activity and moves students out of sight because the threat is considered immediate or adjacent to the building itself. Harborfields, which serves about 2,800 students across four schools in Centerport, Greenlawn, and parts of Huntington, fell under the lockout category; Jack Abrams, sitting closer to the gunfire, did not.
Huntington resident Miladys Vila told News12 that the uncertainty surrounding the lockdown made the situation more frightening for families trying to get information about their children's safety. Both Huntington Station and Greenlawn fall under the jurisdiction of the Suffolk County Police Department's Second Precinct, which operates out of Park Avenue in Huntington and handles patrol and crime response across the Town of Huntington.
A Corridor With a Documented History
Lowndes Avenue, where Jack Abrams STEM School is located, has drawn law enforcement scrutiny before. In January 2026, the Suffolk County District Attorney announced a 53-count indictment against nine members of the Lowndes Block Gang, a group Hoodline previously reported on in connection with multiple non-fatal shootings, homicides, and sex trafficking charges. A 2021 study cited by the International Association of Chiefs of Police found Huntington Station had one of the highest concentrations of documented gang members in Suffolk County, with 230 identified members, trailing only Brentwood's 271.
Commercial strip mall disputes turning violent are not new to the area either. In April 2026, a 43-year-old Huntington Station resident was fatally shot behind the One Stop Deli on West Pulaski Road following a dispute, a case that led to a second-degree murder indictment that May. Suffolk County deployed Flock Safety's Flock Raven acoustic gunshot sensors across 23.5 square miles, including Huntington Station, as part of a five-year, $3.79 million contract finalized in August 2026 to replace the county's legacy ShotSpotter system.
Countywide, annual homicide rates in Suffolk County typically range between 1 and 3 cases per 100,000 residents, well below state and national averages, though commercial property disputes and misdemeanor offenses make up the bulk of precinct responses. Tuesday's shooting, while resulting in no injuries, underscores how quickly a daytime altercation near a commercial corridor can ripple across multiple school districts and force rapid coordination between the Second Precinct and school resource officers.
