Southold gang-related shooting leads to fifth arrest, police say

A fifth suspect sought in a gang-related shooting that took place last month in Southold faces arraignment Friday after being arrested by authorities.

Albino Dejesus Medina, 20, of Bay Shore, was arrested Wednesday on three counts of first-degree assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Southold Town Justice Court.

Police said Medina is a member of the notorious MS-13 street gang and was part of a group that shot two men on South Harbor Road in Southold on Oct. 14.

Southold Town police made the arrest with assistance from the U.S. Marshals New York / New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and Riverhead Town police.

Four other suspects -- Jeremias Recinos Torres, 19, of Aquebogue; Pedro Santamaria, 31, of Greenport; Walter Vasquez, 17, of Greenport; and Freddy Torres Campos, 17, of Southold -- all previously pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the attack and each was ordered held on $1 million bond or $500,000 cash bail. All four were remanded.

Police and prosecutors have said five shots were fired and one of the two victims was also attacked with a machete.

Southold police said two victims were ambushed as they walked along South Harbor Road shortly after 12:20 a.m. The shootings appear rooted in a dispute between some of the suspects and the victims a few days earlier in Third Street Park in Greenport, police said -- adding that the defendants attacked the victims, believed to be members of the street gang Mara-18, after seeing them walking near Route 25.

Recinos Torres and Santamaria pleaded not guilty to first-degree gang assault, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and criminal possession of a firearm in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, according to a news release from the Suffolk district attorney's office.

Vasquez pleaded not guilty to assault charges, while Torres Campos has pleaded not guilty to six assault and gang assault charges.

Eric Besso, of Sayville, who represents Campos, previously declined to comment.

With Zachary R. Dowdy

and Ellen Yan

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.”