Tyriek Corbin found guilty of shooting into vehicle of people looking for lost puppy, Suffolk DA says

A Mastic man has been found guilty of weapons charges stemming from a shooting incident involving two people searching for a lost bulldog in Shirley last August, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Officials said Tyriek Corbin, 24, was convicted of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon on Wednesday — and faces sentencing before Supreme Court Justice Hon. Timothy P. Mazzei on June 14.

The attorney of record for Corbin could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

"This conviction is the result of a meaningless verbal discussion that, without warning, escalated into this defendant firing shots from an unlawfully possessed handgun in an open residential area full of children and families enjoying a beautiful summer day," Suffolk District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement Thursday, adding nobody was injured.
Court records showed that on Aug. 14, around 5:15 p.m., Corbin "engaged in a verbal dispute" with two people who were in a vehicle searching for a lost French bulldog puppy on Lockwood Drive in Shirley. The argument escalated to the point where, prosecutors said, Corbin entered a home and returned with a loaded handgun, firing shots at the vehicle "multiple times."

The vehicle was struck three times by bullets, prosecutors said.

No one inside the vehicle was hit.

Corbin, who faces a minimum of 3½ years in prison, was released on his own recognizance until sentencing, according to court records.

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.”