RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A 20-year-old gang member pleaded guilty in a drive-by shooting that wounded two rival gang members in front of the New York home of then-U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, authorities said.
Noah Green pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy for shooting at three men, striking two of them, outside Zeldin's home in Shirley on Long Island in 2022. Both men survived.
Zeldin, a Republican who was in the midst of an unsuccessful run for governor of New York, was not home at the time, but his two teenage daughters were.
“The events that took place on October 9, 2022, were traumatic for my family and couldn’t have hit any closer to home," Zeldin said in a statement.
Zeldin thanked Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney "and the many law enforcement officials who swiftly acted to keep my daughters safe, transport the victims, and take the necessary legal action to hold Mr. Green accountable.”
Green was arrested on Oct. 31, 2022, with what prosecutors said was the gun used in the shooting. He was later indicted with 17 other defendants following an investigation into the No Fake Love gang for crimes including shootings and carjackings.
Newsday reported that during Thursday's hearing, Judge Anthony Senft asked Green, “Are you pleading guilty because you are in fact guilty?”
“Yes,” Green answered.
An attorney for Green, Michael Alber, told Newsday that said his client was “seeking to put this matter behind him. ... He never wanted to be part of this at all.”
Green is expected to be sentenced to 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release at an Oct. 15 hearing.