The Republican candidate for governor of New York, Representative Lee Zeldin, announced on Twitter that two individuals were hurt in a shooting that occurred on Sunday outside his residence.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, officers were looking into the incident that occurred at 2:20 PM outside a Shirley, Long Island, residence. It wasn’t immediately known how the two people were doing.
Mr. Zeldin said in a statement that he did not know the two guys who were shot and were found under his front porch. According to the authorities, the injured were unrelated to the home’s occupants.
Mr. Zeldin said that he and his wife, Diana, had just returned from the Morris Park neighborhood’s Bronx Columbus Day Parade and were not at home when the shooting occurred. He claimed that when the gunfire and screams were heard, his 16-year-old daughters Mikayla and Arianna were inside the house working on their schoolwork at the kitchen table.
He explained, “They went upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom, and called 911 immediately. “Diana and I are quite proud of them because they behaved quickly and shrewdly at every turn.”
Conservative congressman Mr. Zeldin has made public safety the focal point of his campaign, touring the state to draw attention to violent crimes and making campaign promises to toughen the state’s bail regulations and tackle crime if elected.
He is viewed as the underdog against Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who had a commanding lead in recent polls. The governor’s campaign has pushed to draw attention to Mr. Zeldin’s hostility to abortion rights and his support for former President Donald J. Trump. Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York by more than two to one.
The incident marks the second time recently that Mr. Zeldin’s campaign has been affected by violence. A Western New Yorker who physically accosted Mr. Zeldin onstage at a political event in July was charged with assaulting a member of Congress.
The man was brandishing a pointed keychain at the lawmaker and was later identified as an Army veteran. Later, he said that he had been drinking and was unaware of Mr. Zeldin’s identity. The attack was discussed by Mr. Zeldin in the context of his message against crime.
At that moment, he declared, “I’m as determined as ever to do my part to make New York secure again.
After the incident in July, the campaign tightened security around Mr. Zeldin. On Sunday, he struck the same chord by claiming that his daughters were startled by the gunshot but otherwise unharmed.
Crime has “actually made its way to our front door,” he claimed, “like so many New Yorkers.”
After learning of the shooting, Governor Hochul posted on Twitter that she was “glad to hear the Zeldin family is safe and appreciative of law enforcement’s swift response.”