A Greenport teen charged in a violent gang attack in Southold last week was operating on an “order” from a higher up in the MS-13 gang, according to Assistant District Attorney Ryan Hunter.
According to Hunter, Walter Vasquez, 17, who attends the Greenport Union Free School District, confessed in writing and said he as was ordered “to do something bad” to the two victims in the attack.
Vasquez was indicted Wednesday at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court before Judge William Conden. He was charged with two counts of assault in the first degree, a felony, two counts of gang assault in the first degree, a felony, and two counts of assault in the second degree, a felony. He was held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond.
Attorney Lane Bubka of Riverhead said his client Vasquez, who is from El Salvador, pleaded not guilty and is “not a gang member”, despite the district attorney’s charges.
Also indicted Wednesday was Jeremiah Nathanael Recino Torres, 19, of Aquebogue; he was charged with two counts of assault in the first degree, a felony, two counts of gang assault in the first degree, two counts of assault in the second degree, a felony and one count of criminal possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty and was also held on $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond.
Hunter said Recino Torres “lied to the police” and had a “conversation about killing” the victims; he also gave written confessions, Hunter said. He was the alleged driver and lookout in the incident, Hunter said, which involved five suspects. The fifth, Hunter said Tuesday, has not yet been caught. According to a source close to the investigation, the fifth subject goes only by a street name and has not been found.
Recino Torres, also from El Salvador, Hunter said, was found in a vehicle with a gun and machete and faces five to 25 years in jail.
He is represented by attorney Luis Pagan of Riverhead.
Suspect Pedro Emilio Santamaria, 31, of Greenport, was also slated for indictment on Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday,walking on crutches, a fourth suspect and alleged MS-13 gang member, 17, who was nabbed in relation to what police said was a gang-related shooting on South Harbor Road and State Route 25 in Southold last week, was the first of the four suspects to be indicted before Judge Condon.
Represented by Sayville-based attorney Eric Besso, Freddie Fernando Torres Campos, who turned 17 last week in custody, was charged with two counts of assault in the first degree, a felony, two counts of gang assault in the first degree, a felony, and two counts of assault in the second degree, a felony. He was held in lieu of $500,000 cash bail and $1 million bond and faces five to 25 years in jail, if convicted.
Hunter painted a verbal picture of the violent attack, alleging that Torres Campos, one of five suspects, members of the MS-13 street gang, plotted the attack against a rival Greenport street gang, planning to “attack and kill them.” According to Hunter, the five were in a vehicle and found the victims near their homes in Southold.
Torres Campos, he said, brandished a machete in the attack, his two co-defendants had guns, Hunter said. The three “ambushed” the two victims, Hunter said, shooting one in the abdomen and one in the back and elbow, while two others were “lookouts”. The victim shot in the abdomen remains hospitalized, Hunter said, while the victim shot in the back has had bullets removed, with one bullet too close to the spine to remove. He may be paralyzed, Hunter said.
Torres Campos, Hunter said, was shot in the foot by a co-defendant and struck by a .22 calibre bullet.
Besso said his client, from El Salvador, pleaded not guilty. Torres Campos, he said, now lives with a cousin, has a girlfriend and works as a landscaper, with limited resources. He asked the judge for lower bail; the request was denied due to the violent nature of the crime and the fact that Torres Campos is not a citizen, Condon said.
“He’s a young boy who was misled by the others,” Besso said.
Hunter said he had a signed written confession from Torres Campos.
On Friday, through an interpreter, Torres Campos told Judge Rudolph Bruer at his arraignment in Southold Town justice court that he lived on Route 25 in Southold but is from El Salvador and is a “non-citizen”; he has lived in the area for a year and works seasonally for a landscaper, but could not remember the name of the company.
Police said Torres Campos was was taken into custody at Southampton Hospital where he was admitted on the day of the shooting for treatment of a gunshot wound to his left ankle.
The arrest came one day after three suspects charged in last Tuesday’s shooting in Southold appeared before Judge Bruer at Southold Town justice court Tuesday. Bail for initially set for each at $250,000.
On Tuesday, after two men were shot on South Harbor Road in Southold, police identified and arrested the first three suspects in connection with the crime — and said they are members of the MS-13 street gang.
According to Southold Town Police, Pedro Emilio Santamaria, 31, of Greenport, Jeremias Nathanael Recinos Torres, 19, of Aquebogue, and Walter Vasquez, 17, of Greenport, were arrested after the attack.
The judge ordered an order of protection for the two victims, whose names were not revealed. The victims remain hospitalized in Peconic Bay Medical Center.
The shootings occurred after midnight last Tuesday, police said. A responding officer spotted Santamaria and Recinos Torres in a parked vehicle a short distance from the scene of the shooting — and a loaded .22 calibre semi-automatic handgun was discovered in the vehicle, police said.
During the subsequent investigation, it was learned that Vasquez was also involved, police said; he was arrested at school in Greenport, where he is in the eighth grade.
Police said it appears that the incident stems from a dispute between some of the defendants and the victims that occurred at the Third Street Park in Greenport on Friday night — and it is believed that the victims are members of Mara-18 or 18th Street, a rival street gang.
In past years, the Third Street Park in Greenport was thought to be the site of possible gang activity. Years ago, Mayor David Kapell brought Curtis Sliwa of the Guardian Angels out to the park and Guardian Angels patrols into the village, to help deter gang activity.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
