Village 'shaken' by fatal Port Jefferson shooting

The Shirley man who was fatally shot in Port Jefferson Village — in broad daylight on Main Street — is seen on video pulling a knife on the suspect shortly before he was gunned down Wednesday, the mayor of the North Shore community said.

The incident was recorded on a nearby security camera that feeds directly to the Suffolk County police Real Time Crime Center, according to Mayor Margot Garant, who said the video will be an important part of the investigation being conducted by Suffolk police homicide detectives.

Garant said the shooting in the idyllic waterfront village on the Long Island Sound was an isolated incident, but added that Port Jefferson is as susceptible to gun violence as any other American community.

"The community is a little shook up," she said, "but a huge percentage of us feel safe here."

Suffolk police identified the victim on Thursday as David Bliss, 25, of Shirley. The gunman is not believed to be a resident of Port Jefferson, Garant said Wednesday.

Bliss' uncle, Phil Bonsignore of Virginia, said his nephew was a big-hearted young man who loved music, especially Stevie Ray Vaughan and the blues.

I don't even know how to process this," said Bonsignore, a musician known as "Fil Rhythm" who said he loved Bliss "like a son."

Bonsignore said Bliss' family did not know what led to the fatal confrontation in Port Jefferson.

"He was loved," Bonsignore said. "He was loved by his family."

According to police, officers responding to a 911 call at about 3:35 p.m. Wednesday found Bliss on the ground with a gunshot wound. Bliss was transported to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he was pronounced dead. Suffolk police said the investigation is ongoing but declined to comment further.

Bliss’ mother created a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses for her son. The page raised $6,370 by Thursday evening.

"On March 24, 2021, my beautiful, loving, caring, blue-eyed boy left this Earth," Theresa Bliss wrote. "My first-born, a piece of my heart. He was murdered in broad daylight. He was only 25 yrs old and had a full life ahead of him, only to be tragically taken from us."

Bliss and the suspect were engaged in an argument before the fatal shooting, officials said. The video shows Bliss cowering behind a telephone pole, and then pulling a knife when the suspect approached him, according to Garant. The suspect retrieved a gun from his car, then shot Bliss before fleeing in his vehicle.

Garant said she has watched the video but Suffolk police have asked village officials not to release it, according to the mayor.

Garant said officials did not order a lockdown in the village because Suffolk police were able to determine within 10 to 15 minutes of the shooting that the gunman had fled westbound on Route 25A immediately after the shooting.

"Our village is shaken by yesterday’s deadly shooting on Main Street," Village Trustee Rebecca Kassay said. "My heart goes out to the victim’s family and friends, as well as our residents and village visitors who might have witnessed this act of violence."

Barbara Ransome, director of operations for the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, said the shooting was a "terrible tragedy."

"No community wants to see this kind of tragedy," she added.

The village is economically reliant on visitors and travelers taking the ferry from Port Jefferson to Connecticut, and Ransome said the shooting was a blow to businesses that had hoped for a successful summer after struggling for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Flowers are blooming, windows are being washed, flags are waving and then this," Ransome said. "This is so unfortunate."

The last fatal shooting in the four-square-mile village of about 9,700 residents occurred in October 2019, also on Main Street, and not far from Wednesday's.

Port Jefferson resident Theodore Scoville, 50, was fatally shot by the owner of an East Main Street liquor store, police said at the time.

The 2019 shooting was a "clear case of self-defense," police said. Scoville walked into the store and swung a samurai sword at a close distance to the store owner who then fired a single shot, police said.

Kassay urged anyone facing emotional distress because of the shooting to call the Family Service League’s DASH Hotline and Crisis Care Center at 631-952-3333.

Kassay also urged witnesses or anyone else with information about the shooting to call Suffolk police CrimeStoppers at 800-220-TIPS.

With Antonio Planas