Long Island cops deploy ‘strike force’ in Lee Zeldin’s nabe after shooting

Long Island cops are deploying a police “strike force” in gubernatorial candidate’s Lee Zeldin’s neighborhood after Sunday’s shooting outside his house.

Zeldin — a 46-year-old Republican who has campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform — was on his way to a Columbus Day Parade in the Bronx on Sunday when bullets flew outside his Shirley home, where his 16-year-old twin daughters were doing homework.

Two local teens were wounded in the suspected Bloods gang-related shooting.

Sources said the incident was a drive-by shooting targeting three teenagers and was not linked to Zeldin — but cops are taking no chances that more local violence could occur.

“I’m always concerned about retaliation, so putting this strike force together and grabbing officers throughout the county and kind of flooding them in a certain community is our MO,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said, according to Newsday.

“We’re in the business of protecting the residents of Suffolk County,” he said.

“Have we seen some gang concerns out here in Shirley? Yes, we have,” he said. “I can’t sit here and say that this is the motive for the shooting incident. But we’ll take a look at it.”

Edmund J. Coppa

Gregory P. Mango

Gregory P. Mango

Gregory P. Mango

Zeldin, who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul, said his daughters dashed to an upstairs bathroom, locked themselves in and called 911 after they heard the shots outside the house.

He said one slug was found just 30 feet from where the twins had been sitting.

The two wounded teens — Joel Murphy and Elijah Robinson, both 17 — were walking down the quiet suburban street shortly before 2:20 p.m. Sunday when they were fired upon.

A third teen who was with them, 15-year-old Tyler Smith, escaped unharmed and ran home.

“There were a lot of things going through my head,” Arianna, one of Zeldin’s daughters, told reporters Monday. “We thought it was fireworks because people do that in our neighborhood. So, I was very confused.

“When we heard the screaming, we definitely knew it was gunshots,” she said. “When I saw a person on our lawn, I didn’t know if he was the shooter or the one being targeted.”

Her sister, Mikayla, called the incident “very scary.

“We’re 16,” she said. “To experience something like that at this young age is very scary. We didn’t know if they were coming after us.”