Gov. Hopeful Lee Zeldin Says 2 Shot Near His Home With Daughters Inside

SHIRLEY, NY — Long Island congressman and Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin said two people were shot outside his Shirley home Sunday, but that his family is safe.

Zeldin said gunshots were fired outside his house around 2:18 p.m. Sunday.

"My 16 year old daughters, Mikayla and Arianna, were at our house doing homework, while my wife, Diana, and I were in the car, having just departed the Bronx Columbus Day Parade in Morris Park," Zeldin said in a statement.

His daughters heard the shots and screams and bolted upstairs, locking themselves in a bathroom, he said. They called 911.

"They acted very swiftly and smartly every step of the way and Diana and I are extremely proud of them," Zeldin said.

"My daughters are shaken, but ok," he said, later tweeting that a bullet landed 30 feet from them.

He said the two people who were shot were found under his porch and in the bushes in front of his home. Zeldin told the New York Post there was blood on a rock next to his porch.

He said he did not know them, but that the wounded were taken to hospitals.

Police were investigating at his home and were reviewing security footage.

Suffolk police told The Associated Press they are investigating the shooting. They didn't immediately have further information.

Zeldin is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, and has made rising crime and violent crime a platform of his campaign.

"Like so many New Yorkers, crime has literally made its way to our front door," Zeldin said.

The shooting comes after he was attacked in July while campaigning in upstate New York. In that incident, a man approached him onstage and thrust a sharp object near his head and neck. He was unharmed, and the man was arrested.

Zeldin, 46, represented the 1st congressional district for seven years.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.