Police on Long Island are searching for a gunman after a shooting in a residential backyard left a person hurt and the neighborhood shaken. According to News 12, the shooting happened in the backyard of a home on Neptune Avenue in Mastic, and investigators are now trying to track down the shooter, who fled the scene before officers arrived.
The timing of the gunfire has been laid out by police. According to the account, the shooting took place just before 8 o'clock on Thursday night, turning an ordinary summer evening in the Suffolk County community into the scene of a violent incident that police are still working to piece together.
The person who was struck was rushed for emergency care. According to News 12, the victim was airlifted to the hospital from William Floyd High School, a sign of the seriousness of the injuries, though police say the victim is expected to recover from the shooting.
The search for the person responsible is now the focus of the investigation. According to the account, police are looking for the shooter, who ran from the scene after the gunfire, and officers have not yet said whether they have identified the person behind the attack in the Mastic neighborhood.
A neighbor offered a firsthand glimpse of the moments before the shooting. According to News 12, a woman who lives across the street and asked not to be shown said she had seen a large group of teens at the house beforehand, describing them as jumping on each other and playing the way kids do, before the group moved into the backyard.
What came next, the neighbor said, was frightening. According to the account, she recounted hearing a gunshot and then seeing the teens running away and screaming in the aftermath. As the investigation continues, police are asking for the public's help while they work to identify and locate the shooter.