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Four arrested after drive-by shooting at Riverhead house

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Three teenagers and a 21-year-old from Centereach were arrested Wednesday night after firing gun shots at a house full of adults and young children, Riverhead Town police said.

Patrol cars near Roanoke Avenue heard “rapid gunfire coming from the area” of Third Street  just before 9 p.m. when they responded to the scene, police said.

One police unit then began tailing a tan Ford Taurus that was leaving the area.

Police stopped the car on nearby Peconic Avenue.

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Three bullet holes could be seen in the front siding of the house.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | At least two bullet holes were left in the front siding of the house, with another in the front door.

Officers also responded to the targeted residence at Third Street, where they learned from someone inside that several gunshots had hit the house.

Police say they also found spent shell casings in the roadway outside.

Meanwhile, during the traffic stop, officers spotted spent casings on the floorboard of the Taurus, police said.

Four people inside the car, which included a 19-year-old woman, were arrested.

One of the people in the car was then found to be carrying a .38-caliber semi-automatic handgun, police said.

Police arrested Jeffrey Despeines, a 2011 Centereach High School graduate, on first-degree reckless endangerment and first- and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charges, officials said.

Eric Baldwin Jr., 18, of Bellport, was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Jordan Harrell, 18, of Medford, and 19-year-old Jasmine Parsons of Mastic were each charged with first-degree reckless endangerment.

This was not Ms. Parsons first arrest by Riverhead Town police. A former Riverhead resident, she was charged with second-degree robbery in May 2011 after she allegedly knocked a woman to the ground and stole her pocketbook, according to records and News-Review archives.

No one was home Thursday morning at the Third Street house where the shooting occurred. At least two bullet holes were found to have punctured the house’s front siding. A third bullet hole was also dug into the front door of the home, where glass from the screen door lay shattered on the patio.

UPDATE: Families recount horror of drive-by shooting

A neighbor on Third Street said he’s lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and has never heard of a shooting or serious crime happening before.

The man, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the residents on the street did not cause trouble; it’s others who come to the road that make mischief, he said.

“They come from somewhere else,” the neighbor said. “They come over here to make some problems, but they don’t belong to this neighborhood.”

According to town property records, the house is owned by Bagshaw Rentals Inc., located on East Main Street.

Check back at riverheadnewsreview.com for additional reporting.

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