Fatal shooting of North Sea man was targeted, Southampton Town police chief says

The fatal shooting of a North Sea man on Christmas morning was targeted and not a random crime, the Southampton Town police chief said on Monday.

Southampton Town police responded to a burglary call at a Roses Grove Road home about 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, where they discovered Steven Byrnes, 53, had been shot, authorities said.

Byrnes was pronounced dead at the scene.

The case is being investigated jointly by Suffolk homicide detectives and Southampton police.

Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki said there were growing fears in the community that the shooting was random. But Skrynecki said investigators now believe Byrnes was targeted.

"This was a targeted event and not a random event," he said. "I am getting questions in the local community and concerns that this may have been a random situation that they would be obviously much more concerned about. To alleviate some of those concerns, we want to let them know that our joint investigation thus far shows this was targeted."

There has been no reported motive for the shooting and no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Suffolk Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.