New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin is opening up about a shooting outside his home over the weekend.
During an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning, Zeldin revealed his children called 911 on Sunday after the shooting.
He explained they were sitting at the kitchen table doing homework when they heard gunshots and proceeded to seek shelter in an upstairs bathroom.
“It really freaked them out,” Zeldin, a sitting Congressman, went on. “This is something where you had two people who got shot who were essentially laying down about 10 feet from where they were doing homework. One of the bullets landed about 30 feet from where the girls were doing homework.”
He added, “This hits extremely close to home. It showed up at our front doorstep yesterday. When we were getting back to the house, we had to go through crime scene tape. We were getting advised where to walk so that we weren’t stepping on blood. This is not something that we were planning to return home to when we left for a Columbus Day parade in the Bronx.”
Watch the video below:
He told Fox police did not share any possible motivation for the shooting. However, he said four of his security cameras caught three people who were “on our property.”
“One was laying down underneath our porch, another one was laying down under a bush in front of our porch just a couple feet away. The third person who wasn’t shot was moving all around the property,” Zeldin added.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) tweeted, “I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home. As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement’s quick response.”
I’ve been briefed on the shooting outside of Congressman Zeldin’s home. As we await more details, I’m relieved to hear the Zeldin family is safe and grateful for law enforcement's quick response.
— Kathy Hochul (@KathyHochul) October 9, 2022
Zeldin was previously assaulted on stage during a campaign event.
The latest incident comes as Republicans in races across the country have sought to make rising crime rates a major issue.
And in some races, the focus on crime seems to be working to the benefit of the Republicans.
Despite being the victim of an assault, it seems New Yorkers are more concerned about issues such as protecting abortion access and defying a Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment than taking steps to actually shore up public safety.
RealClearPolitics’ average of polls finds Hochul holds an 11.4-point lead over Zeldin.
After the nominee of a major party for governor, and sitting Congressman, has been assaulted and had a shooting outside of his house, you might expect voters to ask if Democrats in power are doing enough to keep their constituents safe.
But instead, the response in heavily Democrat-leaning New York essentially seems to be, “Yeah, but MAGA Republicans bad! We’ll take our shootings, stabbings, and people being thrown in front of subways because it hasn’t affected me!”