Reward offered in fatal Bay Shore shooting, Suffolk cops say

They were attacked by masked gunmen while walking down a street in Bay Shore, then shot to death.

Now Suffolk County Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect — or suspects — in the murders of David Arzu, 29, of Bay Shore, and Janelle Curella, 28, of Manorville — gunned down on Center Avenue as they walked to the Long Island Rail Road station at 9:25 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2.

Suffolk County police said Homicide Squad detectives are trying to determine if Arzu, Curella and a man and woman they were walking with were targeted by the shooters, who one of the surviving witnesses described to Newsday as wearing hoodies as well as bandannas that covered their faces.

Police ask anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-8477. All calls will remain confidential.

The female witness, described as the 26-year-old roommate of Curella, said the four had been hanging out in West Babylon and at the South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, and were headed to the station to catch the train back to Riverhead when the shootings occurred. The friend said she and Curella were roommates at a sober house and that Curella, who was in rehab for heroin addiction, worked at a hat store at Tanger outlet in Riverhead and had been sober 66 days when she was killed. A friend of Arzu described him as the father of a young child and owner of a collectible coin business.

After being shot, the two victims were taken by Bay Shore-Brightwaters Rescue Ambulance to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore where police said they were pronounced dead.

Relatives of Curella and Arzu previously declined to comment on the shooting.

After the shooting, the female witness told Newsday that the attackers both were armed and that Arzu’s friend broke free from the altercation and hid behind a parked car while she ran and hid as well. She said that during a brief struggle with Arzu and Curella, shots were fired — and that she returned to the scene after the gunmen fled. “It was horrific,” she said.

With Sarah Armaghan

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”