NEW YORK (AP) — A man has been arrested with the gun used in a outside the Long Island home of Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, authorities said Tuesday.
Noah Green, 18, was arrested Monday in Shirley on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of stolen property, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.
Green's possible involvement in the Oct. 9 drive-by shooting outside Zeldin's house is still being investigated, the district attorney's office said. Two 17-year-old boys were wounded in the shooting.
Zeldin, who in next Tuesday's election, was not at home when the shooting occurred but said his twin teenage daughters were in the kitchen doing homework and heard gunshots and screaming.
According to court papers released by the district attorney's office, police officers conducting surveillance in connection with the shooting saw Green leave his residence in Shirley on Monday and get into a black Honda that had been reported stolen.
When officers approached Green, he exited the Honda and tried to flee by jumping onto the hood of the police car, prosecutors said.
Green reached for his pants pocket as officers tried to take him into custody, prosecutors said. Officers were able to grab Green's hand and recover a loaded 9mm pistol from Green's pocket, the district attorney's office said.
A microscopic analysis of the pistol showed that it was the same weapon as the one used in the shooting outside Zeldin's house, the district attorney's office said.
Additionally, prosecutors said, the car seen on surveillance video from the shooting scene was a black Honda “consistent with” the stolen car from Monday's arrest.
“The gun Green possessed was the weapon used in the shooting, but that does not mean that he was the shooter necessarily,” Zeldin said Tuesday. “This investigation is still ongoing, and we will continue to help law enforcement in any way we can.”
Green was arraigned and ordered held on $750,000 cash bail, $1.5 million bond or $7.5 million partially secured bond. He is due back in court Friday.
Green's attorney at the Legal Aid Society did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Tierney said in a statement that the investigation into the shooting is continuing and there will be more developments in the future.
Karen Matthews, The Associated Press