Cops: Uber driver, Long Beach man in dispute before fatal shooting

A Long Beach man charged with murder Monday in connection with a fatal shooting in March, shot the victim, an Uber driver, during a dispute over a possible ride, police said Tuesday.

Shaun Teemer, 23, faces a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Humberto Manuel Francis Hernandez, 37, a driver with the ride-sharing service from St. Albans, Queens, according to police.

Teemer was arrested Monday by police at the Long Beach Gardens apartment complex at 425 E. Broadway — where in the early morning hours of March 19, police said then, officers found Hernandez bleeding from a gunshot wound. Hernandez would be pronounced dead four days later at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside. 

Long Beach police detectives learned Teemer had returned Monday to the complex, where several of his relatives live, and located him waiting in his car, Long Beach Police Commissioner Ron Walsh said Tuesday. Long Beach police notified Nassau County homicide detectives and special operations officers who surrounded the car and took Teemer into custody about 2 p.m., Walsh said at a news conference with Long Beach City council members and the apartment building's landlord.

Police did not specify how they came to consider Teemer a suspect, what evidence led investigators to him, or whether the gun used to kill Hernandez had been recovered. 

In a statement Tuesday night, an Uber spokesperson said: “We can’t imagine what the last few months have been like for Mr. Hernandez’s loved ones. We are thankful for investigators’ continued efforts on this case that led to an arrest and are working with them on their investigation.”

Teemer was believed to be a potential customer for Hernandez when the two men got into a dispute, the police commissioner said.

Long Beach police officers responding to a ShotSpotter gunshot recognition signal and multiple 911 calls, found Hernandez lying in the vestibule of the Long Beach Gardens.

The building's landlord, Vim Goyal, said he didn't know Teemer or his family.

"We were just told someone ran into the building," Goyal said, "and the other guy chased him inside and shot him."

Police praised Goyal for his assistance in the investigation and $200,000 in security improvements, such as additional lighting, and cameras, including in stairwells, that allow police to monitor the area.

Teemer appeared Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead where a judge ordered him to return Friday. There was no defense attorney listed for him in court records.

He was arrested in 2015 when he was 16 and charged with robbing a man after police said he set up a scam to sell a dirt bike on Facebook, according to Walsh.

Teemer was charged last year with leaving the scene of an accident, causing serious injury, police commissioner said.

"He has a long history of violence here in Long Beach," Walsh said. "The citizens of Long Beach can rest easier knowing this man is no longer roaming our streets."

With Keldy Ortiz

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.