Sini: Suspect in fatal Port Jefferson shooting joked about it afterward
Suffolk police in March at the scene of a Port Jefferson shooting that resulted in the death a Shirley man and second-degree murder charges against a 19-year-old Port Jefferson Station man, officials said. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The man accused of fatally shooting a Shirley resident in broad daylight last month in the heart of Port Jefferson joked about it minutes later and admitted pulling the trigger, Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said Thursday.
Joseph Garcia, 19, of Port Jefferson Station, was charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in an indictment unsealed Thursday, according to Sini.
Garcia was recorded on surveillance video at a residence in Setauket shortly after the shooting making light of killing David Bliss, prosecutors said.
"We retrieved video surveillance allegedly showing this individual joking about the shooting a mere 10 minutes after the murder occurred," Sini said in a statement. "This incident has devastated the victim’s family and the community at large and we will do everything in our power to hold the defendant accountable."
On the surveillance video, the statement said, "Garcia can allegedly be heard … making admissions as to the shooting."
Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei ordered Garcia held without bail at a virtual arraignment on Thursday. Garcia could be sentenced to 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the second-degree murder charge. He is scheduled to return to court on April 21.
"He maintains his innocence and we have reserved the right to make a bail application pending discovery," said Garcia’s attorney, George Duncan of Islip Terrace.
The fatal shooting occurred March 24 after Garcia and Bliss, 25, engaged in an argument on Main Street near West Broadway, Suffolk police said last month. Garcia allegedly shot Bliss and drove away. Bliss was taken to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Surveillance video from the scene and linked to the Suffolk police Real Time Crime Center showed a suspect shoot Bliss before driving away, Port Jefferson Mayor Margot Garant told Newsday last month.
There also were several eyewitnesses to the shooting, Sini said.
"[Garcia] pulled out his black 9 pistol and without hesitation shot that guy," one witness told police, according to court documents.
