Alleged gunman calls police after fatal shooting on Long Island

WABC logo
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Alleged gunman calls police after fatal LI shooting
Kristin Thorne has the latest on the fatal shooting in Amityville.

AMITYVILLE, Long Island (WABC) -- A suspect who apparently called police himself is in custody after a man was fatally shot while driving on Long Island Tuesday morning.

Police say they received a 911 call from 34-year-old Marc Cheatham around 7:40 a.m. saying someone had been shot in Amityville.

Officers responded to the scene on South Park Place and Albany Avenue, where the investigation determined that the caller was himself the shooter.

Cheatham was arrested a short distance away. A short time later, they found the 39-year-old victim shot in his car.

Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities do not believe the shooting was random and say the suspect knew the victim, though they aren't saying how.

"We're examining and we're investigating the relationship between the two of them," Suffolk County police Detective Lieutenant Kevin Beyrer said. "We believe there was some sort of relationship between them. We don't believe, we have no reason to believe right now, that this was random."

Jackson also crashed into parked car after being shot. That vehicle was unoccupied.

Authorities say a gun that they believed to be the murder weapon was recovered at a nearby family home of Cheatham.

The suspect and the victim lived a block away from each other. Police say Cheatham was on foot when he shot at Jackson.

Cheatham is charged with second-degree murder.

----------

* More Long Island news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

* Follow us on YouTube