Arrest in fatal shooting behind Huntington Station deli after U.S. marshals apprehend accused killer in Alabama

A man charged Monday in a killing behind a Huntington Station deli last month had been arrested in Alabama while attempting to flee the country, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Carlos Castro, 27, was extradited and returned to New York by U.S. marshals on Monday and was charged in the April 20 killing of Steven Rocco, 43, of Huntington Station, prosecutors said in a news release. Castro was described as a Honduran national but the release did not say where he had been living in New York.

Castro was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury with shooting Rocco following an argument just after 4 p.m. behind the One Stop Deli on Pulaski Road. Prosecutors said a witness tried to intervene in the argument before Castro was seen on a surveillance camera shooting Rocco once and running away from the deli. Rocco was declared dead after he was taken by ambulance to Huntington Hospital.

Rocco’s family could not be reached Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the next day, Castro changed his phone number, borrowed $3,000 from friends and family to leave the country and hired a driver to take him to Texas. Castro was arrested two days later in Alabama by the U.S. Marshals Service's New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.

"This defendant allegedly took Steven Rocco’s life in a senseless shooting captured on video surveillance," Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. "Thanks to the dedicated work of the Suffolk County Police Department and the United States Marshals Service, the defendant was arrested in Alabama and extradited back to Suffolk County where we will vigorously prosecute him for these serious charges."

He pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge and criminal possession of a weapon during an arraignment Tuesday in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead.

Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei ordered him remanded to jail without bail and ordered him to return to court June 15. Castro’s defense attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also issued a detainer to deport Castro after he is prosecuted. Prosecutors said he faces between 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.