Houseguest shot, critically injured, says Dix Hills homeowner
Bullet hole and finger print dustings are seen at the door of a Dix Hills home Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015, where a man was shot Friday night. Credit: Newsday / Candice Ruud
The victim of a shooting at a Dix Hills house yelled "call 911" moments before he was shot through the front door, the owner of the home said Saturday.
Second Precinct police officers responded to the home on Melrose Road at about 9:17 p.m. after a 911 caller reporter a shot had been fired into the home, Suffolk County police said in a news release.
When officers arrived, they determined Louis Speaight, 27, of Norfolk, Virginia, had been shot in the chest after answering the door of the home, police said.
The gunman, who remains at large, rang the doorbell of thehouse about 9:15 p.m. Friday, according to the owner, Richard Schmoll, 61.
Schmoll said the victim, a friend of the family visiting from Virginia, took one look through the door's glass panel and shouted in alarm.
"I was right next to him, and he yelled at me, 'Call 911!' And then the guy shot through the door," Schmoll said.
Schmoll said an unknown man in his 20s had come to his door hours earlier on Friday, asking for someone the family didn't know.
"We said, 'We don't know that person,' and he looked down at his phone and said, 'Well I must have the wrong address,' and then he took off," Schmoll recalled. "And then apparently he came back."
Schmoll said his wounded houseguest was so terrified he ran out a back door and up the block.
"I went to the rear of the house and got on the phone with 911 and stayed with them until police arrived, but our friend who got hurt, he was really scared, so he ran," the homeowner said.
Schmoll, who described himself as a disabled veteran, said he doesn't think the victim knew the gunman. He said his friend is expected to recover.
Saturday, a bullet hole was visible in the front door. Schmoll and his family went out to buy a replacement in the afternoon.
"We assume it was a home invasion," Schmoll said. "It's very scary. My concern was, was the guy going to get into the house?"
Police were looking for suspects in the shooting, but no arrests had been made Saturday night.
Speaight was taken to Southside Hospital, by Dix Hills Fire Department Rescue, and he was listed in critical condition after surgery on Saturday.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Second Squad at 631-854-8252 or 800-220-8477 to anonymously report information to Crime Stoppers.
With Laura Blasey
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