A 40-year-old man was shot in the shoulder early Friday while he stood waiting with his bike to board an eastbound Long Island Rail Road train at the Bellport station, according to MTA Police. The gunman was one of four people who had just exited the train before turning and firing toward passengers trying to get on, and all four then fled the scene.
The shooting happened around 2:25 a.m. as the train, headed from Jamaica to Montauk, sat at the Bellport platform, according to News 12 Long Island. One of the four people who stepped off the train turned back and opened fire on riders boarding the train, striking the victim in his right shoulder, the outlet reported. As detailed by CBS New York, the wounded man remained aboard the train after being hit rather than trying to flee the platform himself.
MTA Police received calls about an injured rider and met the train at its next stop, Mastic-Shirley, where the man was treated before he was taken to a hospital. He was treated at the scene, transported to NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk in Patchogue, and later released, per the same News 12 account. Investigators set up scenes at both the Mastic-Shirley and Bellport stations as they worked to piece together what happened.
Search for the Gunman and Three Others Continues
MTA Police are leading the investigation and are searching for the shooter along with the three other people who were with him when he fired, the station's report noted. As of Friday's reporting by Daily Voice, no suspects had been arrested in the case, and law enforcement had not released descriptions of any of the four people involved. Anyone with information has been asked to contact the confidential MTAPD tipline at 718-361-2212.
Service disruptions followed the shooting on the Montauk Branch, with both eastbound and westbound trains temporarily interrupted as police worked the scene. Officials said the line resumed service at 5:14 a.m., though Daily Voice reported an early-Friday disruption, with service returning to normal by mid-morning.
A System Already Under Scrutiny
The shooting lands amid broader concern about safety on the region's commuter rails. MTA Police Assistant Chief Gary Beahan has said crime on the commuter rail system increased over the past year, though it remains well below its pre-pandemic average, according to Gothamist. In response to concerns from riders and transit workers, the MTA agreed in January 2022 to boost police patrols on both the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North, the outlet reported.
Friday's shooting is not the first act of gun violence aboard an LIRR train in recent years. In February 2022, 20-year-old Yusef Staine was fatally shot aboard a train parked at the Ronkonkoma station around 1:45 a.m., according to FOX 5 New York. Authorities said that shooting appeared targeted rather than random, since the shooter and victim seemed to know each other and had been traveling together, and no one else was hurt in that incident.
No arrests have been announced in Friday's Bellport shooting, and the identities of the four people who fled the train remain unknown. MTA Police continue to lead the investigation as they search for the gunman and the three others who were with him.
