Passenger shot boarding train at LIRR Bellport station; shooter takes off

A passenger was shot while boarding a Long Island Rail Road train at the Bellport station early Friday, MTA police said.

MTA police received a report of an injured passenger aboard an eastbound LIRR train that had just departed Bellport about 2:25 a.m., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a statement.

MTA officers responded to the next station, Mastic-Shirley, where they boarded the train and found a 40-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the right shoulder, police said.

A preliminary investigation, which included review of video and witness statements, showed the victim was standing on the Bellport eastbound platform with a bicycle when the train arrived.

"As passengers, including a group of four persons, were exiting the train and leaving the platform, one of the persons in the group turned and fired a gun toward passengers, striking the victim as he was boarding the train," the MTA police statement said. "No other passengers or train crew were injured."

The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was treated and released, police said. The shooter and other members of his group fled the Bellport station. The investigation, police said, is "preliminary and ongoing."

The investigation caused delays and cancellations on the LIRR's Montauk Branch before Friday's early morning rush, but service resumed at 5:14 a.m.

Check back for updates on this developing story.