Sweeping Long Island gang arrests solve 10 shootings, including decade-old murder case, prosecutors say
Long Island police carried out sweeping arrests after an indictment charged nine alleged gang members in 15 crimes, including murders dating back years.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Thursday the gang held a neighborhood in Huntington under siege for years by funding violence through prostitution and sex trafficking.
Huntington Station gang takedown
Prosecutors said the Lowndes Block Gang, an offshoot of the Bloods, got its name from Lowndes Avenue in Huntington Station, where all of the alleged crimes occurred.
It's where Cam Hernandez was gunned down in 2021 after he allegedly got on the wrong side of the gang's leader.
"He was a wonderful kid," Hernandez's grandmother Christine Rimmer said. "He met the wrong people at the wrong time at the wrong place."
Rimmer and others hugged after prosecutors announced the arrest of Marques Scott, who allegedly ordered a 14-year-old to pull the trigger and kill her grandson.
"Evil. They should be taken off the streets because innocent people are killed every day," Rimmer said. "The younger kids being groomed to kill at a higher level ... is just earthshaking."
9 charged in 10 shootings
Tierney said his gang task force closed in on the leaders who ordered Hernandez's killing and nine other shootings in the area.
One attack was caught on video showing a gang member opening fire outside a Huntington Station apartment; that victim survived. Other crimes involved shootings into homes and apartments. One time, gunfire went off inside Heckscher State Park during the day.
Prosecutors said their aim is to dismantle the criminal organization, root and stem.
"We go after the leaders, anyone who funded the violence, anyone who helped acquire and distribute the weapons and anyone who helped cover up the crimes," Tierney said.
Prosecutors also announced an arrest in the 2016 murder of 18-year-old Antoine Butts Miller, who was caught in crossfire of a rival gang member while standing outside a house party on Lowndes Avenue.
DA says laws are too lenient
Tierney said the wave of arrests is still not enough, and that laws need to change.
"The laws in New York state are lenient when it comes to juveniles and they are taking advantage of those laws. They use the younger members to commit the most outrageous and brutal violence," the DA said.
Investigators said the crackdown culminated years of work that included gathering intelligence from within jails.
All nine defendants were either arraigned or are pending arraignment. They face charges ranging from murder and attempted murder to conspiracy and assault.
