Hempstead Lake State Park stabbing arrest made, cops say

Police arrested a 17-year-old suspected MS-13 gang member Sunday in connection with last month’s stabbings of three teenagers at Hempstead Lake State Park, authorities said.

News12 Long Island had reported that the attackers used knives and a machete in the May 23 assaults on the three Hempstead High School students.

The unidentified suspect faces six felony charges and one misdemeanor, said Randy Simons, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation,

“The investigation continues and more arrests are anticipated,” Simons said in a statement Sunday night.

Earlier, authorities took the suspect to State Park Police headquarters in Babylon for processing said Troy Caupain, director of the Park Police Officers Association.

Sunday afternoon, a park police detective escorted the handcuffed male suspect — clad in a T-shirt and jeans — out of the Babylon headquarters.

He is expected to be held overnight for his expected arraignment Monday in First District Court in Hempstead, Caupain said.

Police are still looking for the two other alleged attackers. All three were thought to be between 16 and 17 years old, Caupain said.

They are accused of stabbing the students as the three walked on a trail not far from the campus just after 3 p.m. park police said.

Two of the victims were 16 and the third 18, said Simons, shortly after the stabbings. The three victims were treated at a hospital, Simons said at the time.

After the attacks, State Park Police increased patrols at the Hempstead park. Officials in the Hempstead Union Free School District also said they had beefed up security on their campuses as a result of the stabbings.

School officials also provided grief counseling to students who knew the victims.

With Scott Eidler

By David M. Schwartz

dschwar1@newsday.comschwartznewsNY

David Schwartz covers environmental issues. A native Long Islander, he's worked at Newsday since 2013.