Associated Press
HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. — Authorities say a suspect accused of shooting a Suffolk County police officer after a traffic stop on Long Island is a member of a “vicious” local gang who survived a drive-by shooting last year.
Sheldon Leftenant was ordered held without bail after being arraigned Thursday on attempted aggravated murder and resisting arrest charges.
His attorney said Leftenant is innocent of shooting Officer Mark Collins in the hip and neck.
Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota says Leftenant is a member of a “vicious gang called The Tip Top Boyz.”
Newsday says court records show Leftenant was shot in the groin last August outside his family’s Huntington Station home. It was believed to be gang-related.
In 2012, he pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years’ probation.
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