Bay Shore man who forced friend to drive while he shot at houses sentenced, DA says

A Suffolk County judge Wednesday ordered a Bay Shore man to serve multiple concurrent sentences in prison, including 12 years for kidnapping, after he forced a friend at gunpoint to drive him around while he fired at multiple homes, prosecutors said.

Robert Oliver, 43, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree kidnapping and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, Suffolk County district attorney officials said.

Prosecutors said Oliver fired multiple shots into a home on Nov. 14, 2020 with two adults and four children inside and one bullet missed a 3-year-old boy by a few inches and lodged in the kitchen stove.

Oliver had come to the home earlier in the day looking for one of the residents’ uncles who didn’t live there, prosecutors said. Police recovered several shell casings from the home. He was seen on surveillance video before the shooting waving a gun in a deli looking for the same man.

Two months later, in January 2021, prosecutors said he forced his friend at gunpoint to drive him around Bay Shore where he shot at multiple homes, narrowly missing a resident inside, according to the district attorney’s office.

Authorities later recovered a 9 mm Smith and Wesson pistol from Oliver’s cellar matching shell casings fired in both shootings.

Oliver was also sentenced concurrently to multiple sentences for charges of reckless endangerment, unlawful imprisonment, aggravated harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.

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.