Tag: bail (criminal custody)

American woman accused of conspiring to kill her husband released on bail in the Bahamas | CNN

Editor’s Note: Lindsay Shiver of Thomasville, Georgia, pleaded not guilty on Friday, Dec. 8, to killing her estranged husband in a Bahamian court during her formal arraignment.

CNN
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American Lindsay Shiver, accused of conspiring to kill her husband with two co-defendants in the Bahamas, was granted bail of $100,000 by a Bahamian Supreme Court justice on Wednesday.

She will be outfitted with an electronic monitoring device and must comply with an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. As Shiver walked into court wearing ripped jeans and a T-shirt, spectators yelled questions but it did not appear she replied to anyone.

Shiver must report to the Cable Beach Police Station in Nassau three times per week. She must also not come within 100 feet of her husband, as part of her bail conditions.

When Bahamian Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson finished laying out the conditions of Shiver’s bail, Shiver responded with a soft “OK.” After Shiver picks up her electronic monitoring device, she will be allowed to go to her new residence without returning to jail, her attorney Ian Cargill told CNN on Wednesday.

Shiver’s alleged co-conspirators, Terrance Adrian Bethel, 28, and Farron Newbold Jr., 29, had previously been released on $20,000 bail, Cargill told CNN on Friday.

Shiver, 36, of Thomasville, Georgia, is accused of unsuccessfully conspiring with the two Bahamas natives to kill her husband, Robert Shiver, on July 16 while on the Abaco Islands, months after the couple filed for divorce.

Police in the Bahamas successfully foiled the plot by acting on information found on a phone recovered during a separate criminal inquiry into a recent break-in at a local business, a Bahamian police source told CNN.

The defendants were arraigned last month, according to court documents. They were not required to enter pleas at that hearing.

Lindsay and Robert Shiver had filed for divorce in April, court records indicate.

Robert Shiver filed for divorce on April 5, and Lindsay Shiver filed for divorce the following day, according to the complaint listed on the Thomas County, Georgia, Clerk of Courts website.

Robert Shiver lists Lindsay’s “adulterous conduct” as a reason for divorce, saying the marriage is irrevocably broken, according to the filings viewed by CNN. The filing from Lindsay Shiver says she has “incurred debt beyond her means to pay,” and asks that her husband be made to pay.

Robert Shiver is an insurance executive and former Auburn University football player, court records and his company’s website show. Lindsay Shiver also attended Auburn University, according to social media posts.

Lindsay Shiver’s next court appearance is slated for October 5.

CNN has reached out to attorneys representing each of them in the divorce case.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of Bahamian Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Grant-Thompson.

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December 8, 2023
Investigators in Gilgo Beach case operating on theory that the killings occurred in suspect’s home | CNN

CNN
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Since the spring of this year, investigators looking into the Gilgo Beach serial killings case have been operating on the theory that the suspect, Rex Heuermann, committed the killings in his Massapequa Park, New York, home.

A source involved in the investigation told CNN the fact that the disappearances occurred during times his family was out of town suggests he may have lured victims to the Long Island home.

Investigators believe committing the killings at home would have given Heuermann control of the environment and access to materials that were found at the crime scene, including tape and burlap bags, the source said.

One of the reasons the search of the suspect’s home has taken so long is because investigators are also combing for trace evidence that may be linked to the victims, multiple sources said.

Heuermann was arrested in New York City last week and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the “Gilgo Four,” a group of four women whose remains were found along a short stretch of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach in 2010.

The 59-year-old architect has pleaded not guilty in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.

In a news conference last Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuermann’s wife and children were both traveling when the killings were committed and the suspect was “alone in the tri-state area” during those times.

Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and killing of the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to a bail application from prosecutors. He has yet to be charged in that homicide case but the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the document says.

Barthelemy’s phone communicated with a burner cellphone several times before July 10, 2009, which was the last day she was seen alive, authorities said in Heuermann’s bail application.

On that day, cell tower records show the burner phone traveled from Massapequa Park to Midtown Manhattan and later that day, Barthelemy’s phone traveled from Midtown Manhattan to Massapequa, the application says.

Barthelemy’s last phone location was recorded in Massapequa on July 11, 2009, at roughly 1:43 a.m., the court document says.

Less than a year later, on June 6, 2010, Waterman was seen on surveillance footage leaving a hotel in the area of Hauppauge around 1:31 a.m., according to the bail application. It was the last time she was seen alive.

Waterman’s phone also communicated with a burner cell phone at around the same time she left her hotel, according to the bail application.

Cell tower records show her phone traveled to Massapequa Park, with its last location recorded in that area at around 3:11 a.m. “in the vicinity of the residence of” Heuermann, the bail application says. She was never seen alive again.

In the case of Costello’s killing, police say a burner phone contacted her the day before she vanished. In those communications, the burner phone connected to cell towers in West Amityville and Massapequa Park, the bail application says.

Around the time of the communications, witnesses said “a prostitution client” went to Costello’s residence, where a person pretended to be her “outraged boyfriend” as part of a ruse and got the client to leave, the application says.

The burner phone, which was located in Massapequa Park, messaged Costello’s phone early the next day, on September 2, 2010, saying, “That was not nice,” according to the document.

Later that day, Costello was again contacted by the burner phone, which was at Massapequa Park, the bail application says. That night, the burner phone traveled to the area of the woman’s house, according to the document.

On the night of September 2, Costello walked outside her home, leaving her phone behind, and was never seen alive again.

As investigators in New York work to build their case against Heuermann, police in Las Vegas and South Carolina, where the suspect owned property, are reviewing their unsolved cases for any possible connection.

In Rock Hill, South Carolina, police are reviewing the disappearance of Aaliyah Bell, who was 18 when she went missing in November 2014, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“So far, there is no indication that leads us to identify Heuermann as a suspect in this case. We will continue to investigate Bell’s disappearance and follow up on all tips and leads,” Rock Hill Police Department spokesperson Lt. Michael Chavis said.

Nothing specifically prompted the review, Chavis noted. “This was a proactive approach after learning of Heuermann’s arrest and his ties to an area not far from us in South Carolina,” he said.

Rock Hill sits in York County, which borders Chester County, an area where Heuermann owns four large parcels of land, tax records show.

The sheriff’s office in Chester County said it has been gathering evidence for the Gilgo Beach investigative task force since before Heuermann’s arrest.

Late last week, authorities were seen towing a truck belonging to Heuermann’s brother, a neighbor who lives adjacent to Heuermann’s land told CNN.

In Las Vegas, where Heuermann and his wife purchased two timeshare condos, police said they are also reviewing their roster of unsolved cases for any possible connection.

The condos were purchased between 2003 and 2005, property records show. The couple has since sold the first property, the records show, and it is unclear whether they still own the second.

Strands of hair were among the key evidence that helped investigators bring Heuermann into custody.

In the initial examination of Waterman’s skeletal remains, investigators found a male hair from the “bottom of the burlap” the killer used to wrap her body, prosecutors said.

In addition, female hair now believed to be from Heuermann’s wife was found on or near three of the victims, prosecutors allege in the bail application.

But when they were found in 2010, the hairs were degraded, and DNA testing at the time couldn’t yield the results investigators hoped for.

It wasn’t until more than a decade later that improved technology offered answers.

Once authorities identified Heuermann as a suspect in early 2022 using cell phone data, witness descriptions and other information, they began watching him and his family, and collected DNA samples from items in their trash.

They got a complete sample of his DNA from leftover crust in a pizza box he discarded – and it matched the one from the male hair investigators had collected so many years ago, Tierney, the district attorney, has said.

Heuermann’s family was shocked, disgusted and embarrassed when authorities informed them of the crimes he is accused of, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN’s Erica Hill on Monday.

“I don’t believe that they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living,” Harrison said.

On Wednesday – less than a week since Heuermann’s arrest – his wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce, her attorney said. The two were married in April 1996 and lived since then in the suspect’s childhood home in the Long Island suburb of Massapequa Park with their daughter and Heuermann’s stepson.

Ellerup “and her family are going through a devastating time in their lives,” a Thursday statement from her attorneys said. “The sensitive nature of her husband’s arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elderly family members.”

“Ms. Ellerup does not wish to comment further and has requested the public and press to please respect the family’s privacy at this time.”

No one has visited Heuermann in jail other than his attorneys, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. told CNN Thursday night.

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July 21, 2023
Burner phones. Pizza crust. DNA on burlap. A New York architect was charged with killing 3 women in Gilgo Beach serial killings cold case | CNN

CNN
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A New York architect was charged with murder in connection to the killings of three of the women who became known as the “Gilgo Four,” according to the Suffolk County District Attorney, in a case that baffled authorities for more than a decade in suburban Long Island.

Rex Heuermann – who told his attorney he is not the killer – was taken into custody for some of the Gilgo Beach murders, an unsolved case tied to at least 10 sets of human remains discovered since 2010, authorities said.

The case was broken open thanks to cell phone data, credit card bills and DNA testing, which ultimately led them to arrest Heuermann, 59, authorities said.

Heuermann was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in each of the three killings – Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010 – according to the indictment. A grand jury made the six charges, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.

He is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to a bail application from prosecutors. Heuermann has not been charged with that homicide but the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the document says.

This is the first arrest in the long-dormant case, which terrorized residents and sparked conflicting theories about whether a serial killer was responsible.

Tierney said authorities, fearing the suspect might be tipped off they were closing in, moved to arrest him Thursday night.

“We were playing before a party of one,” he told reporters. “We knew the person responsible for these murders would be looking at us.”

See our live coverage here

Authorities said once Heuermann was identified in early 2022 as a suspect, they watched him and his family and got DNA samples from items that were thrown away.

During the initial examination of one of the victims’ skeletal remains and materials discovered in the grave, the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory recovered a male hair from the “bottom of the burlap” the killer used to wrap her body, according to the bail application.

A surveillance team later gathered a swab of Heuermann’s DNA from leftover crust in a pizza box he threw in the trash, the district attorney said.

Hair believed to be from Rex Heuermann’s wife was found on or near three of the murder victims, prosecutors allege in the bail application, citing DNA testing. The DNA came from 11 bottles inside a garbage can outside the Heuermann home, the court document says.

Evidence shows Heuermann’s wife and children were outside of the state at the times when the three women were killed, Tierney said.

The hairs found in 2010 were degraded and DNA testing at the time couldn’t yield results but improvements in technology eventually gave investigators the DNA answers they needed.

Heuermann was in tears after his arrest, his court appointed attorney, Michael Brown, said Friday.

“I did not do this,” Brown said Heuermann told him during their conversation after his arrest.

Heuermann was remanded without bail. He entered a not guilty plea through his attorney. His next court date is scheduled for August 1.

Police were still searching his home Friday night, according to a CNN team outside the house.

Heuermann, who a source familiar with the case said is a father of two, is a registered architect who has owned the New York City-based architecture and consulting firm, RH Consultants & Associates, since 1994, according to his company’s website.

In 2022, Heuermann was interviewed for the YouTube channel “Bonjour Realty.” He spoke about his career in architecture, and said he was born and raised in Long Island. He began working in Manhattan in 1987.

CNN has reached out to Heuermann’s company for comment.

The remains of the Gilgo Four were found in bushes along a quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach over a two-day period in 2010.

The skeletal remains of Barthelemy were discovered near Gilgo Beach on December 11. Barthelemy, who was a sex worker, was last seen July 12, 2009, at her apartment when she told a friend she was going to see a man, according to a Suffolk County website about the killings.

The remains of three other women were found on December 13, 2010: Brainard-Barnes, who advertised escort services on Craigslist and was last seen in early June 2007 in New York City; Amber Lynn Costello, who also advertised escort services and was last seen leaving her North Babylon home in early September 2010; and Waterman, who also advertised as an escort and was last seen in early June 2010 at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge.

Tierney said of the women, “They were buried in a similar fashion, in a similar location, in a similar way. All the women were petite. They all did the same thing for a living. They all advertised the same way. Immediately there were similarities with regard to the crime scenes.”

Tierney said the killer tried to conceal the bodies, wrapping them in camouflaged burlap, the type used by hunters.

The suspect made taunting phone calls to Barthelemy’s sister, “some of which resulted in a conversation between the caller, who was a male, and a relative of Melissa Barthelemy, in which the male caller admitted killing and sexually assaulting Ms. Barthelemy,” according to the bail application.

The court document alleges cell phone and credit card billing records show numerous instances where Heuermann was in the general locations as the burner phones used to call the three victim,s “as well as the use of Brainard-Barnes and (Barthelemy’s) cellphones when they use used to check voicemail and make taunting phone calls after the women disappeared.”

The district attorney said the killer got a new burner phone before each killing.

The case against Heuermann came together in the two years since the restart of the investigation by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, authorities said.

Harrison put together a task force including county police detectives, investigators from the sheriff’s office, state police and the FBI.

Tierney said the task force held its first meeting in February 2022.

“Six weeks later, on March 14, 2022, the name Rex Heuermann was first mentioned as a suspect in the Gilgo case,” Tierney said. “A New York state investigator was able to identify him in a database.”

Investigators had gone backward through phone records collected from both midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park area – two areas where a “burner phone” used by the alleged killer were detected, according to court documents.

Authorities then narrowed records collected by cell towers to thousands, then down to hundreds, and finally down to a handful of people who could match a suspect.

From there, authorities worked to focus on people who lived in the area of the cell tower who also matched a physical description given by a witness who had seen the suspected killer.

In the narrowed pool, they searched for a connection to a green pickup a witness had seen the suspect driving, the sources said.

Investigators found Heuermann, who matched a witness’s physical description, lived close to the Long Island cell site and worked near the New York City cell sites where other calls were captured.

They also learned he had often driven a green pickup, registered to his brother. But they needed more than circumstantial evidence.

When investigators searched Heuermann’s computer, they found a disturbing internet search history, including 200 searches aimed at learning about the status of the investigation, Tierney said Friday.

His searches also included queries for torture porn and “depictions of women being abused, being raped and being killed,” Tierney said.

The DA said the suspect was still compulsively searching for photos of the victims and their relatives.

Heuermann was trying to find the relatives, he added.

The murder mystery had confounded county officials for years. In 2020, they found a belt with initials that may have been handled by the suspect and launched a website to collect new tips in the investigation.

Police said some victims identified had advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist.

The mystery began in 2010 when police discovered the first set of female remains among the bushes along an isolated strip of waterfront property on Gilgo Beach while searching for Shannan Gilbert, a missing 23-year-old woman from Jersey City, New Jersey.

By the time Gilbert’s body was found one year later on neighboring Oak Beach, investigators had unearthed 10 sets of human remains strewn across two Long Island counties.

The grim discoveries generated widespread attention in the region and sent waves of fear across some communities on Long Island’s South Shore.

Authorities later said they believe Gilbert’s death may have been accidental and not related to the Gilgo Beach slayings.

Still, Gilbert’s disappearance led to the discovery of others.

Additional remains were uncovered in neighboring Gilgo Beach and in Nassau County, about 40 miles east of New York City. They included a female toddler, an Asian male and a woman initially referred to as “Jane Doe #6,” investigators said.

In 2020, police identified “Jane Doe #6” was as Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old Philadelphia mother who went missing two decades earlier.

Mack’s partial remains were first discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2000, with additional dismembered remains found in 2011, according to the Suffolk County police.

John Ray, a lawyer who represents the family of Shannon Gilbert – whose disappearance and search led to the discovery of “Gilgo Four” and other remains – said Friday he does not know if Heuermann is also responsible for her death.

“We breathe a great sigh of relief,” Ray said. “We’re happy the police are finally taking a positive step in this respect, but this is just the beginning … This is just the edge of a bigger body of water, shall we say, of murder that has taken place.”

Ray also represents the family Gilgo Beach victim Jessica Taylor.

“We don’t know if he is connected to Jessica Taylor’s murder,” he said.

Jasmine Robinson, a family representative for Taylor, said she’s “hopeful for the future and hopeful that a connection is made” to resolve the other cases.

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July 14, 2023
Landmark national security trial of Hong Kong democracy activists begins. Here’s what you need to know | CNN

Hong Kong
CNN
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Some were seasoned politicians and veteran protest leaders. Others were academics, unionists and health care workers. They hailed from different generations and held a range of political views, but were brought together by what they say was a shared commitment to Hong Kong’s democratic future.

Now, the “Hong Kong 47,” as the group of pro-democracy activists in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory has come to be known, will start appearing in court from Monday facing charges that could send them to prison for life.

Sixteen of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges laid against them and are expected to be the first ones to take the stand.

Their alleged crime? Organizing and participating in an unofficial primary election that prosecutors have called a “massive and well-organized scheme to subvert the Hong Kong government.”

This is Hong Kong’s largest national security law trial since Beijing imposed the sweeping legislation on the city following mass anti-government protests in 2019. The law criminalizes vaguely defined acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces, all of which are punishable by life in prison.

The landmark trial – the first involving subversion charges – is expected to run for weeks, but its implications could last for years or even decades in a city critics say is rapidly losing its political freedoms and autonomy.

John Burns, emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong, said the trial of the democrats is a “test of will” of Beijing’s capacity to completely wipe out organized opposition in Hong Kong.

Burns said arresting the democrats and pressing charges against them was meant to both intimidate and eliminate the opposition, either by chasing them out of Hong Kong into exile or by jailing them.

“It is a process of removing them. By shutting down political parties, shutting down trade unions, they are shutting down the basis of the support for organized opposition,” Burns said.

The Hong Kong government has repeatedly denied such accusations. Instead, it insists the law has ended chaos and restored stability to the city.

“Hong Kong prides itself on the rule of law; law enforcement agencies are duty-bound to take action against unlawful acts, regardless of the political background of the suspects. Arrests made are based on evidence and strictly in accordance with relevant laws and regulations,” the government said in a statement in response to the criticism.

Here is what you need to know about the case:

The 47 pro-democracy figures have been charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion” under the national security law over their alleged roles in an unofficial primary election in July 2020.

The vote was held ahead of a legislative election to find out which contenders would be best placed to bid against pro-Beijing candidates.

Such contests are held in democracies around the world, and involve political parties selecting the strongest candidates for an election. Hong Kong’s democrats had previously held such votes in an attempt to match the organization and discipline of the rival pro-Beijing camp and avoid splitting the opposition.

Authorities, however, said the primary vote was a “vicious plot” intended to “paralyze the government and undermine state power” by winning a majority of seats and using the mandate to block legislation.

The government’s Electoral Affairs Commission also responded that the “so-called” primaries were “not part of the electoral procedures of the Legislative Council Election or other public elections.”

In January 2021, the 47 democrats were arrested en masse in a dawn raid. Since then, many have been remanded in custody or are in jail for other protest-related offenses. Fifteen have been granted bail under specific conditions.

It is extremely rare for defendants not to be granted bail in Hong Kong under the common law system. However, the national security law stipulates that defendants cannot be granted bail unless the court is convinced they will “not continue to commit acts endangering national security.”

A Department of Justice spokesman told CNN that bail application in cases concerning offenses “endangering national security” has been “handled fairly and adjudicated impartially by the court having regard to admissible evidence, applicable laws and merits of the case.”

The cases will be heard without a jury, deviating from the common law tradition.

The defendants include a wide variety of political activists who describe themselves as ranging from moderate democrats to radical localists, a movement that advocates Hong Kong’s independence from mainland China.

Among the 16 pleading not guilty is former journalist Gwyneth Ho, 32, of the now-defunct Stand News, which was closed down after a police raid in 2021 and two editors were charged with sedition.

Ho live-streamed the moment when assailants indiscriminately hit people – many of whom were returning from a pro-democracy march – with sticks and metal bars at a train station in July 2019. Ho’s footage of the incident made international headlines, sparking a probe into the lack of police presence. Ho was injured herself in the attack. She later stepped away from journalism to run for the 2020 Legislative Council elections.

Leung Kwok-hung, 66, nicknamed “Long Hair” for his signature locks, is a former legislator and retired civil servant. He had been on the front lines of the city’s politics for over two decades and is an outspoken critic of China. He’s known for political protests – both on the streets and inside the city’s legislative chamber. In 2017 he was disqualified from the legislature for refusing to take an oath swearing allegiance to China.

Lam Cheuk-ting, 45, regularly joined street protests which at times escalated into clashes with police, and he was often seen negotiating with officers and asking them to stop using tear gas.

He was sentenced to four months in prison in January 2020 for disclosing the personal information of individuals in a police investigation to the Yuen Long mob attack.

On the other hand, several prominent activists have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. They have either been detained under pre-trial custody or are serving jail time for other protest-related offenses.

These include well-known activist Joshua Wong, 26, labeled an “extremist” by China’s state media, and Benny Tai, 54, a former law professor and co-founder of the 2014 Occupy Central movement. Claudia Mo, 66, a former journalist-turned-legislator, who has previously been an outspoken critic of Beijing’s tightening grip over Hong Kong, has also pleaded guilty.

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February 5, 2023
Woman arrested after breaking into Robert De Niro’s home in New York City, source says | CNN

CNN
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Police in New York City arrested a woman who broke into Robert De Niro’s home early Monday, according to a law enforcement source.

The woman did not interact with the actor, who was on another floor, the source said. The suspect is known to the New York Police Department from previous arrests and is one of the top five burglars in the precinct, the source said.

Two law enforcement sources affirmed Shanice Aviles, 30, was arrested Monday in connection with the burglary. She had already been arrested twice this month before Monday on various burglary charges in New York, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Officers from the 19th Precinct saw the woman walking down a street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side early Monday, trying different doors to commercial buildings before she allegedly broke in through a door of a residential building.

They followed her and arrested her on the first floor, the source said.

At around 2:45 a.m. officers arrested the 30-year-old woman inside a residence while she was attempting to remove property, a spokesperson for the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information told CNN. The property included Christmas presents and an iPad.

The basement door of the residence showed signs of forced entry, the spokesperson said. The woman was taken into custody with charges pending.

The spokesperson would not confirm who owned the home.

The law enforcement source told CNN the suspect in the case is “the poster child” for the problems with New York state’s scrutinized and controversial bail reform changes.

Under New York state’s bail reform laws that were implemented in 2020, burglary was a non-bailable offense.

But because of pressure from police officials and NYC Mayor Eric Adams due to recidivism in burglary and theft offenses, the law was tweaked to allow judges to set bail in cases where a person was arrested again for certain crimes harming people or property after being released for a similar crime.

Judges do not appear to be applying that exception, a law enforcement source claims, based on what police are seeing on the ground.

The woman had 27 arrests and two active bench warrants for failure to appear in court at the time of her arrest, the source said.

“This individual is literally the poster child for everything that is wrong with the system,” the law enforcement source said.

According to NYPD statistics, the rate of felony recidivism for burglary within 60 days in 2021 was 24%. Statistics from 2017, before bail reform, show the recidivism rate was 7%.

Current NYPD statistics from 2022 so far show the rate is holding steady at 24%.

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December 19, 2022
Shooting outside NY GOP governor nominee’s home sharpens debate over crime and guns | CNN Politics

CNN
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A shooting that wounded two teenagers on the property of Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, was a disturbing development in a campaign that has seen him hammer Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul over public safety and a controversial bail reform law enacted more than three years ago.

The random incident Sunday afternoon outside his Long Island house – his two 16-year-old daughters were inside, terrified but uninjured – provided Zeldin with an opportunity, however personally unwelcome, to sharpen his message on an issue for which concerns cross party lines and potential solutions have often defied typical partisan divides.

“This is day after day after day,” Zeldin told Fox News on Monday. “And there are a lot of parents, there are a lot of families, dealing with this reality of rising crime in New York. For us, fortunately, my daughters knew exactly how to respond. But listen, they were just sitting there at the kitchen table doing homework and bullets started going off all around them.”

An ally of former President Donald Trump, Zeldin has mostly run a one-issue campaign focused on crime and his criticism of the 2019 Democratic-led enactment of a bail reform law that made it more difficult for judges to keep some suspects behind bars. The law has been amended twice, but Republicans and some Democrats have pushed for more substantial revisions. While the backlash is real, Zeldin’s ability to parlay it into a winning message remains in doubt. He has struggled to break through with voters in deep-blue New York and Hochul has used his opposition to new gun restrictions to undermine his “soft on crime” attacks.

Zeldin entered the general election at a clear disadvantage. There are more than twice as many registered Democrats in New York as Republicans, whose party has been hollowed out by a generation of cascading defeats. The last GOP victory in a statewide election came in 2002, when Gov. George Pataki won his third term in office. Hochul, nominally an incumbent after replacing disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo following his resignation last year amid a sexual harassment scandal, has distanced herself from her predecessor, but not the state’s Democratic donor apparatus, and has trounced Zeldin in fundraising.

Zeldin has employed familiar GOP attacks against Hochul over the economy and inflation, but like other Republicans around the country, he sees an opening on the criminal justice front. Last November, months after he entered the GOP primary, Republicans won a pair of district attorney races in the New York City suburbs. In Nassau County, the incumbent Democratic executive was also unseated by a Republican. The backlash to bail reform played a central role in GOP messaging in those races.

Zeldin has followed that roadmap. Perhaps, some critics suggest, too closely for a candidate whose path to an upset win requires a strong performance in the suburbs and upstate, but also a significant dent in the blue wall of New York City.

For her part, Hochul has largely focused her broadsides against Zeldin on his ties to Trump and his opposition to abortion rights. (Zeldin has said he would not seek to change state law guaranteeing access to the procedure.) When pressed on the bail reform law, Hochul has pointed to the amendments passed by the legislature.

Zeldin’s efforts to make hay over the controversy has been hamstrung by cash woes. Short on money, he turned to Trump for a fundraiser in early September. The event netted Zeldin’s campaign a reported $1.5 million but underscored a fundamental conundrum – Trump, and his wing of the Republican Party, are crucial drivers of campaign funds, but close public ties to them can be self-defeating in a state the former President lost by 23 points in 2020.

“I don’t think Zeldin is in an impossible situation. In fact, I think he’s going to do better than expected,” said Kenneth Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College. “But the campaign has been totally negative, hasn’t presented any positive reasons for supporting him. He says nothing about his record in prior offices. He says nothing about issues other than to attack. At some point, he has to explain why he’s a desirable alternative to Hochul.”

Zeldin has found an unwilling ally of sorts in New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who, though he endorsed Hochul, has pilloried the state’s bail reform law and demanded lawmakers hold a special session in Albany to further restrict rules over pretrial detention. His ask was rejected.

But Zeldin and Adams break sharply on gun violence, with the mayor – along with Hochul – pushing for stricter regulations on firearms. Zeldin criticized a new round of gun control measures passed in Albany and signed by Hochul this past summer that sought to circumvent a recent Supreme Court decision striking down some restrictions on concealed carry outside the home.

“I think we need to separate a law-abiding New Yorker who wants to safely and securely carry a firearm for, solely, their self-defense and the criminals who want to carry firearms illegally and commit offense after offense after offense, harming others, and then because of the system in New York, they end up back on the street,” Zeldin told Fox News in an interview from early July.

A federal court last week blocked enforcement of large chunks of the law. The ruling is being appealed by the state attorney general’s office.

Early Sunday evening, Hochul tweeted a conciliatory note in response to the incident involving Zeldin’s family.

“I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home. As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response,” Hochul said from her campaign’s Twitter account.

The shooting marked the second time Zeldin has been thrust into the headlines by an act of violence. The first came over the summer, when a man wielding a sharp object accosted him onstage at a campaign event near Rochester. Zeldin was not hurt, and the alleged attacker was promptly subdued and arrested.

Asked about the shooting on Monday, Hochul reiterated to reporters that her office had “sent our message right away” that the state police would be made available if desired to aid in the investigation.

“It’s a reminder, we all have to work together to get guns off the streets,” she added. “And so I will continue, as I’ve been on this journey as governor, to do everything we can to ensure that our streets are safe. That is one of my highest priorities.”

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October 11, 2022