By: JOSEPH KELLARD
Antwan J. Brown, 18, of East Market Street, fired shots from a .357 Magnum at a 19-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman as they exited the front doors of Club Heat, at 3942 Long Beach Road in Island Park, at about 3:55 a.m. on Oct. 24, according to Lt. Detective Gregory Detwiller of the Fourth Precinct.
Prior to the shooting, according to police, Brown and the male victim exchanged heated words, and Brown produced a gun and fired a round that struck the female victim in her left thigh, shattering her femur. Brown then shot the male victim, hitting him in the left chest area.
The male victim ran from the scene toward Long Beach Motor Inn on Austin Boulevard, where he requested help from the clerk at the desk, who phoned police. As the victim ran to the motel, Brown allegedly chased him and fired at him again. Police said that acquaintances of the male victim chased and tackled Brown to the ground in the parking lot near the Outback restaurant and took his gun away from him.
At this point, police said, Brown's mother, Diana Little, 39, pulled up in her car and helped her son escape the scene. "Wherever she took him, we're not sure," Detwiller told the Herald. "But she was identified at the scene, and when we brought her in for questioning she was very uncooperative. She wouldn't tell us where she took him. She wouldn't tell us really anything."
Police charged Little with second-degree hindering prosecution.
Detectives said they spoke with two other relatives of Brown's, stressing to them that it was in his best interest to voluntarily surrender. Brown did so at the Fourth Precinct headquarters in Hewlett at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, and was charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
According to Detwiller, Brown had been arrested previously for criminal mischief and assault in Long Beach.
Both the male victim, who is from Long Beach, and the female victim, who is from Hempstead, were admitted to South Nassau Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition and held overnight.
Detectives are investigating the motive for the shooting, which they suspect is related to a previous altercation between Brown and the male victim. "We believe two to three weeks ago, something happened between the defendant's group of friends and the victim's group of friends in the Long Beach area," Detwiller said. "And we believe this latest incident is an outgrowth from this initial altercation. It was a case of bad blood between the shooter and the victim."
