Port Jeff Station Man is Second to Plead Not Guilty in Murder Case

Alex Fernandez, 19, of Port Jefferson Station, the second of two men accused of shooting Luis Vargas to death on Feb 27, pleaded not guilty to murder charges in a Riverhead court on Monday, according to a story in Newsday. His co-defendant, Eduardo Nunez, 20, also of Port Jefferson Station, to murder charges as well when he went before the judge on March 12.

on March 1 for the murder and both men are being held without bail in a Suffolk County jail.

According to an account given by Assistant District Attorney Raphael Pearl, the pair went looking for Vargas, 21, of Selden, after they got into an argument on Magnolia Drive in Coram. Pearl stated that Nunez went to get a gun and gave a knife to Fernandez. They found Vargas on Judith Drive in Selden and Nunez shot Vargas in the chest with a .38 caliber handgun. He was transported to Stony Brook Hospital but he died shortly after arriving.

Along with the shooting, Nunez was accused of threatening two witnesses who were present at the scene.

The district attorney's office confirmed that Nunez and Vargas had known each other before the initial argument. They declined to comment on the relationship between Nunez and Fernandez or where Nunez got the gun he used to shoot Vargas.

Newsday also reported that Pearl said Fernandez had confessed to the crimes to detectives after he turned himself in to police a day after the shooting.

In an earlier interview, Pearl told Patch that a trial for Nunez will not be set until later this year.