Police arrest suspect in Bellport LIRR shooting, and also 2 victims

Police have arrested a suspect and two victims in Friday’s shooting at the Bellport Long Island Rail Road station.

On Tuesday, police arrested Jahmez Cureton, 19, of Wyandanch, in connection with the shooting, which occurred around 2 a.m. on Oct. 9 as Cureton and three other suspects stepped off an eastbound train at Bellport and fired a shot that wounded Abdul Willet, 40, of Bellport, who was boarding the train with a bicycle, according to police.

Willet rode the train to the next stop, where he got off, was treated for his injury and then arrested on a bench warrant related to a stolen bicycle.

Cureton was identified after Suffolk police on Tuesday arrested another male, 17, on unrelated charges and learned that he, too, had been shot in the incident.

MTA Police Chief Thomas Taffe said police discovered "an untreated bullet wound" on the teen’s right shoulder, and learned from him that he got off the train with Cureton and was shot on a ramp at the station.

"They recognized him on the train, and when they got off the train, they turned and fired back at him," Taffe said at a Jamaica news conference on Wednesday. "The round continued through that male and went into a second male" — Willet, hitting him in the right shoulder, Taffe said.

Police said that original victim, who they would not name because he is a juvenile, is in stable condition.

Police believe the incident stemmed from an ongoing "dispute over a female" involving the 17-year-old, who was the intended target, and the group of passengers on the train that included Cureton, Taffe said.

Cureton is being charged with attempted murder, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and two counts of second-degree assault, police said. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Police are still determining what, if any charges, could be brought against Cureton's three traveling companions.

Taffe noted the shooting did not take place on board a train, and is "not reflective of the experience of the average commuter" on the LIRR, which he said remains "incredibly safe." 

According to public records obtained by Newsday, 133 felony crimes were committed on the LIRR in 2025, down from 162 the previous year. While larcenies, robberies and burglaries all fell, assaults climbed from 40 in 2024 to 44 last year.

Taffe said roughly half of all assaults on the railroad are committed against police or MTA employees, automatically elevating them to felonies under state law.

Police said they had no reports of crimes committed at the LIRR's Bellport station in 2025.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.