DA: Gang member gets 15 years in shooting inside Lake Ronkonkoma IHOP
Suffolk County police investigate the scene of a shooting at an IHOP restaurant on Portion Road in Lake Ronkonkoma in March.
A Bloods gang member was sentenced to 15 years in prison for shooting five rounds, and wounding one man, inside an IHOP restaurant in Lake Ronkonkoma during lunch hour last year, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said Friday.
Deontrae Green, 20, of Islandia, pleaded guilty Jan. 13 to a slew of charges including attempted murder for the 1:20 p.m. shooting March 4, at the IHOP at 339 Portion Rd. There were 23 other patrons in the eatery, including an infant in a high chair, Sini said in a statement.
“This was a truly disturbing, shocking act of violence and it is a miracle that no one was killed as a result of this defendant’s actions,” Sini said in a prepared statement. “The prosecutors and police did a tremendous job in bringing this dangerous criminal to justice and removing him from our streets. It remains a top priority for my Office to work tirelessly with our law enforcement partners to target gang members and combat gun violence in Suffolk County.”
Green also faces five years of post-release supervision after his prison time, prosecutors said.
In addition to second-degree attempted murder, Green also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and first-degree reckless endangerment, officials said.
Green was represented by the Suffolk Legal Aid Society, court records said.
Authorities said five minutes after Green arrived at the IHOP last March, a group left a booth and walked past him as they were on their way out of the restaurant. That is when Green pulled out a .40 caliber Glock handgun and squeezed five rounds at the group, one of which struck a man in his 20s, prosecutors said. The wound was not life-threatening, officials said.
Green then ran away from the restaurant and was caught 18 minutes later and arrested in Patchogue, prosecutors said.
