Guilty verdict in fatal Port Jefferson shooting
![Joseph Garcia, then- 19, of Port Jefferson Station, is led...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AYWQzN2ZlZjAtODE2MS00%3AZjAtODE2MS00NGJiOGJm%2Flimurd220408_photos.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
Joseph Garcia, then- 19, of Port Jefferson Station, is led out of the Sixth Precinct in Selden for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on March 28, 2021. Garcia was found guilty Thursday of the fatal shooting of David Bliss in Port Jefferson. Credit: James Carbone
A Port Jefferson Station man was convicted Thursday of fatally shooting a Shirley resident in broad daylight last year as the victim was picking up a pizza, Suffolk prosecutors said.
Joseph Garcia, 20, was found guilty after a jury trial of the murder of David Bliss, and charges of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree criminal contempt.
He faces 25 years to life on the murder charge, up to 15 years on the weapons charge and one year on the criminal contempt charge when he is sentenced on May 9.
“This brazen murder which took place in broad daylight in a crowded business district shook the community,” Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a release. “We hope that the jury’s verdict finding defendant Garcia guilty on all counts will give solace to both the community and to the family of David Bliss. Wanton violence like this will not be tolerated.”
Garcia’s attorney, George Duncan of Islip Terrace, said “while we respect the jury’s verdict, we plan on appealing.”
Prosecutors said Garcia shot Bliss, 25, once in the abdomen with a black pistol during the afternoon of March 21, 2021 on Main Street, near West Broadway in the village of Port Jefferson. The suspect did not know the victim but engaged in a verbal dispute with Bliss as he was picking up a pizza, authorities said.
Bliss was taken to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Multiple video sources captured the shooting and showed Garcia discharging his weapon at Bliss and then attempting to pull trigger at least two more times before the gun apparently jammed, prosecutors said.
Garcia and his associates fled in a vehicle immediately after the murder and went to a home in Setauket that was equipped inside and outside with video surveillance, authorities said.
Video from the home, prosecutors said, showed Garcia with the gun, laughing and joking about the shooting, prosecutors said.
Garcia also made verbal admissions, captured on surveillance video, to the shooting and detailed plans to flee the area to avoid arrest, prosecutors said.
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