Frederick Dela Cruz, 30, was fatally shot in the early morning hours of December 28, 2019, in Wheatley Heights, a community within Wyandanch, New York. A 911 call shortly before 3 a.m. reported a man lying on the side of Little East Neck Road between Charlestown and Westmore places. Responding Suffolk County police officers found Dela Cruz with a gunshot wound; he was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip and pronounced dead.

Initially authorities released few details and withheld the victim’s name pending family notification. The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad opened an investigation and appealed to the public for information that might clarify the circumstances of the shooting. Reports indicate Dela Cruz was from the Bronx and that detectives described his death as the result of a luring from the Bronx to Long Island.

If anyone has information about Dela Cruz, the scene on Little East Neck Road that night, or the events leading up to December 28, 2019, please come forward.