A Suffolk police officer shot and killed a man in Manorville after being called to investigate a 911 call about a “suspicious person lying in the back seat of a vehicle” late Thursday night, Suffolk police said.
The officer was dispatched to Bauer Avenue at about 10:45 p.m., police said.
“The officer engaged him, and a struggle ensued. The officer fired his gun, striking the man,” the police said in a statement.
The man, whose identity has not been confirmed, was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment, the police added, without specifying the reason.
A knife was recovered from the man who died, police said.
Dawn Stewart, 56, said Friday morning that she heard gunshots outside her bedroom window Thursday night and initially thought it was fireworks. But then looked outside to see police swarming across the street.
“I was laying in bed last night everyone was sleeping and I heard, ‘boom boom,’ and I was shocked,” said Stewart said, who added that she had been interviewed by police Friday morning.
“I didn’t see anyone running around. I call this town Mayberry. I’ve never seen anything like this happen in this area,” Stewart said. “There’s no one lying around the neighborhood, it’s idealistic almost,” Stewart said.
Detectives, along with crime scene personnel and the Suffolk County medical examiner, were seen Friday morning investigating a maroon Hyundai. A police flatbed arrived Friday morning to tow the vehicle from the scene.
Police reopened the street at shortly after 9:30 a.m. as the Hyundai iwas towed away on a flatbed truck and police removed police tape after cordoning off that stretch of roadway. The shooting occured on a largely wooded stretch of Bauer Avenue, at the intersection of Frontier Trail, just sought of the Long Island Expressway.
Other neighbors down the street said they didn’t hear the late-night struggle and were unaware of the shooting until Friday morning, when they awoke to police lights and news crews filling their block.
Ken Cino, 51, said he lived down the street, but was asleep when the shooting occurred. He said he woke up in the middle of the night, but wasn’t aware of the shooting until the next morning.
“It’s absolutely crazy. Nothing like this has happened in 29 years. It’s so peaceful,” Cino said.
Suffolk’s homicide section is working with the state Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation in a probe of the shooting, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates
