Two people were injured in a shooting Sunday outside the home of Representative Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, said the candidate on Twitter.
The Suffolk County Police Department said detectives were investigating the shooting, outside a home in Shirley on Long Island at 2:20 p.m. The conditions of the two people were not immediately clear.
In a statement, Mr Zeldin said the two men who were shot were on his porch and he did not know them. Authorities also said there was no connection between the injured and residents of the home.
Mr Zeldin said he and his wife, Diana, were not home at the time of the shooting and had just left the Bronx Columbus Day Parade in the Morris Park area. He said his 16-year-old daughters Mikayla and Arianna were in the house doing homework at the kitchen table when they heard gunshots and screams.
“They ran upstairs, locked themselves in the bathroom and immediately called 911,” he said. “They acted very quickly and smartly every step of the way and Diana and I are extremely proud of them.”
Mr. Zeldin, a conservative congressman, has made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign, traveling the state to highlight violent crime while promising to toughen state bail laws and to suppress crime, if elected.
He is seen as an outsider to Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, who had a comfortable lead in recent polls. Democrats outnumber Republicans more than twice in New York, and the governor’s campaign has sought to highlight Mr. Zeldin’s opposition to abortion rights and his support for former President Donald J. Trump. .
The shooting is the second time violence has mixed with Mr Zeldin’s campaign in recent months. In July, a Western New York man was charged with assaulting a congressman after he physically confronted Mr Zeldin on stage at a political event.
The man, who has been identified as an Army veteran, pointed a sharp keychain at the congressman. He later said he had been drinking and didn’t know who Mr. Zeldin was. Mr Zeldin placed the attack in the context of his anti-crime message.
“I am more determined than ever to do my part to make New York safe again,” he said at the time.
The campaign tightened security around Mr Zeldin after the July incident. He hit the same note on Sunday, saying his daughters were shaken by the shooting but otherwise unharmed.
“Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door,” he said.
Governor Hochul said on Twitter that she had been notified of the shooting and that she was “relieved to hear that the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for the quick response from law enforcement.”
Grace Ashford contributed report.