Police ID Brentwood shooting victim

A bullet fired without warning took the life of a Brentwood teen Wednesday, the second time in six weeks that a teenager there was fatally shot.

Andrew Jones, 18, was in the backyard of his family's Lukens Avenue home, talking with a small group of young men just before midnight, when shots rang out nearby, police said.

"All of a sudden, they hear a shot and he goes down," said Suffolk police Det. Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky. "They realize he's been hit and they call 911. They say they didn't see anything."

Jones was struck in the head. An ambulance took him to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, where he was declared dead at 12:17 a.m. Wednesday.

A friend of Jones', Alex Chan, 21, said Wednesday he was still in shock.

Up until about a year ago, Jones was a regular at a makeshift skate park near County Road 100/Suffolk Avenue, Chan said, and was one of the first to set up obstacles made of wood boards and orange cones.

"Drew was one of the official spot kids," he said. "When I found out, my heart dropped. I never expected Drew to be shot. Out of all of the kids."

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He said Drew had stopped skating last year but showed up there about a month ago.

"He wanted to go back to skating. He was like 'Let's try to go to the city,' " Chan said. "That was the last I heard of him."

Detectives believe Jones was the intended target of the attack, Pelkofsky said. "There is no known gang connection," he said.

Devin King, 24, who lives next door, said he has known Jones for about three years. Jones worked at a local Shop Rite and was going to night school to get his high school diploma, he said. King said he was sleeping when he heard gunfire.

"He was a good kid. Never got in trouble," King said.

"This is the first time anything like this has ever happened here since I've lived here," said another neighbor, Carmen Toribio, 54, who lives across the street. "This has been a big surprise to everyone."

Toribio said she was still reeling from the recent death of Juan Rosario, 18, who was shot to death in the driveway of a Grand Avenue home in Brentwood on April 22. No arrest has been made.

"He was a church boy," she said. "I saw him at church on Good Friday. It's a shame."

A family member told Newsday in April that Rosario had been walking to a friend's house to watch a movie when he was killed.

"No determination has been made that this is linked to any other case," Pelkofsky said Wednesday of Jones' homicide.

Anyone with information about either case is asked to call Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS. All calls will remain confidential.