IHOP shooting suspect arraigned

A Bloods gang member who shot and injured another gang member inside a busy Lake Ronkonkoma restaurant was arraigned Tuesday in Central Islip on assault and weapons charges, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Deontrae Green, 19, of Islandia was charged with first-degree assault, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

Police said the shooting stemmed from an "internal dispute" between Green and the victim, Tyriek Corbin, 20, of Amityville — rival members in the Bloods street gang. 

Green was also arraigned Tuesday in First District Court on an unrelated November 2018 charge of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument related to a $1,967 forged check. He was held on $800,000 cash bail or $1.6 million bond.

"He is presumed innocent at this point, but there is a lot of investigation yet to do," said Anthony Scheller, Green's Central Islip-based attorney, adding he could seek a plea deal with prosecutors. "We have to review the surveillance and talk to the witnesses."

The frightening episode unfolded Monday afternoon in the IHOP restaurant on Portion Road.

Police said Green, sitting at a table with a number of other people, got up and approached a group at a second table and shot Corbin in the torso with a stolen .40-caliber Glock handgun.

There were about 20 patrons in the restaurant, including a family with a child in a high chair sitting directly across from the shooter, police said. None of the other customers was injured, but a bullet fragment hit the sweater of  a female patron, Suffolk Police Chief of Department Stuart Cameron said.

At a news conference at court on Tuesday, District Attorney Timothy Sini said Green told police: "I pulled out my gun and shot. I always have my gun on me."

 "I just lost it. I just let the shots off," Sini read from Green's statement. "I did it. I'm gonna take it. The gun is mine. I don't want anybody getting in trouble for me. I just shot at him. ... I don't know if I hit anybody. Just glad I didn't hit the baby."

Corbin fled, but was found at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening, police said.

"It's very clear that the potential for this could have been dire," Cameron said. "It could have been much worse. The potential was definitely there for it to be much worse."

Less than two hours after the IHOP shooting and eight miles east, in Coram, three men were shot in two separate incidents by groups of armed assailants who fled, attacks police believe involve Bloods members or their associates.

Green is due back in court on Friday.

With Chau Lam

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.